A Time For Vengeance
by SleepyMonkey241
Summary: *Sequel to Doing Time* Everyone knows that Dom and Brian killed Johnny and Lance, but what will the return of a powerful ally, and a team to back them up mean for the team who's barely finished picking up the pieces from the last heist?*19 reviews to go!*
1. Scattered

Title: A Time For Vengeance

Summary: Everyone knows that Dom and Brian killed Johnny and Lance, but what will the return of a powerful ally, and a team to back them up from the Tran's mean for the team who's barely finished picking up the pieces from the last heist?

Disclaimer: I don't own Vin Diesel, or any of the characters from TFATF. I also don't own much of Team Vengeance (anyone who's identity I used, you're your own person, lol). 

Quick note: Melanie is 21, Dominic is 24, Mia is also 21, Brian is 23, and Letty and Leon are both 23 as well.

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*Mel's POV*

I opened my eyes and shut them again as the sun blinded me. I turned around, and was greeted by a single, deep red rose on the pillow beside me. This is what I loved about him. He'd always leave a sign that he loved me, maybe a note one day, a rose on another. I snuggled into the blankets, smiling as I thought about last night. The date, dinner, dancing, and then walking along the old ruins of Rome…it was all so perfect; so much like a dream.

But where was the man who'd caused this sweet dream?

I sat up slowly, still not quite awake, and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I took a step out of bed, slipping a silk robe on as I moved. I was living with anything I could ever need. He'd made sure of that. I was his princess, his one love. And he was mine. My dark Prince Charming, I guess. There was no way that he was the guy I could bring home to mommy and daddy, but he'd saved me nonetheless. Gave me my freedom, in a way. I knew I'd never be here without his help.

I heard a sound outside and I glanced out. There he was…Dominic, the man I'd been living with for the past two years. He was climbing out of the pool and sitting on a lawn chair. He looked so good…

I walked out to where the fine Italian man was resting with eyes closed. I stopped for a second, remembering the events of all the past years.

As soon as we'd arrived, Dom went out and got us a little villa out in the suburbs. 'I'll take care of you, ok? You're the only part of my family left now. I can't lose you, love.' That's what he'd told me when I saw the house. He said he loved me, and we'd patched everything up, somehow, working with each other to make the pain of losing our home in LA subside. 

At first, we barely talked, just sat there in our little embrace, not wanting to let go for fear of falling away from each other into the wide world around us. 

I'd never realized how scary it was out here on earth. The development frightened me and reduced me to a crying child in Dominic's arms. It passed, though. Just like the constant, relentless dream of Jesse being shot by the Tran's. That sweet boy who could light everything up with a tiny smile. We'd loved him so much, everyone had. But he was gone now; the bullets tearing through him couldn't have spared him. 

I felt those bullets just as much as he had inside me, inside my head. I lay there at night, my mind working, the life inside myself being torn around. I should've died. Dominic should've let me go in place of the others. I'd paid the worst price for my life; it was my entire fault. 

Dom's voice rippled through me as I sat, gathered in thought.

"Morning, baby."

Grinning, I returned, "Same to you, Dommy. Aren't you getting burned?"

"You'll take care of me, won't you? I mean, if I get burned?"

"Of course I would, but you're not getting burned…here." I said to him, taking a bottle and rubbing sun block onto his chest and over his arms.

He smirked and joked, "I could get burned in…other places too, you know."

"Keep your pants on, buddy," I laughed.

"I was talking about my nose, you dirty girl!"

"I'm so sure you were, Dom…"

"I was," he said, sitting up after I'd finished and pressing his lips to mine. I kissed back, admittedly wanting more than he was giving, but it didn't matter whether I got what I wanted or not. It'd probably happen later tonight anyway.

He pulled back, a smile playing on his lips. "I love you, Mel."

I gave him a smile back while saying, "I know, and I love you too, Dom."

A sad look flashed over his face. "Remember when we fought so long ago?"

"Of course I do…how could I forget?"

He opened his mouth and closed it again, like he was thinking of what to say. "Have I ever told you I'm sorry for that?"

"Not exactly…I thought we'd just buried it, you know?" I told him, getting sad at what I'd said. We should've talked those problems through.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I was scared back then. I mean, it seems like everyone leaves me…mom, dad…my family- I've never met them, they never wanted anything to do with Mia or me. I didn't want to get close to you when I knew you'd probably just leave me."

"Oh Dom…I'd never leave you, I promise," I murmured giving him a soft kiss on his parted lips. I pulled back, letting him finish.

"I don't think my dad meant to leave us, either," he whispered back to me, putting his head on my shoulder and burying his face into my hair.

I didn't know what to say, but I let him stay there for the moment, just resting. He sat back up after some time and asked, "What's for breakfast?" He was back; the moment of darkness had passed. 

Smiling once again, I reached for his hand, pulling him up and saying, "Whatever you feel like making for me, mi amore." 

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Mia sighed softly, looking at a picture of the Toretto team. Before everything happened. Even before Melanie and Dom broken up. It was so long ago now…over three years. There they were, Dom with an arm wrapped around Melanie's waist, Melanie was smiling, laughing actually, at Leon, who was also standing with his arm wrapped around Letty's shoulders. Leon was telling jokes again, and the whole team was laughing. Jesse was grinning widely, a bit of hair that had strayed from his beanie was in his face, and he was leaning on a car next to Vince, whose attention was being showered on Mia. There they stood, like fictional characters from a movie with a happy ending. _We should have had a happy ending_, Mia thought to herself. 

Leon, Letty, Dom, and Melanie were all gone, scattered around different countries. She knew that Mel and Dom were living together in Italy- Melanie had called six months after all that had taken place from a payphone, making sure that Mia knew that they were alright. Mia hadn't heard a word from Letty or Leon at all. She could only guess that they'd moved to Mexico and left the others behind, in the past.

"Mia? You in there?" Vince called softly from outside of her room.

"Yeah, I'm here V."

Vince walked in and sat on Mia's bed next to her. He looked at the picture and understood. He'd always understood Mia, even when Dom couldn't guess what was going through her head, Vince could always tell. Of course, this was because he loved her. He loved her so much, but she'd never know. All his attempts at making her his own had led up to failure. She loved Brian. Brian was the only man for her, and in God's own cruel little gesture, Mia was the only woman for Vince.

"Why?" She asked him now, falling into his arms and sobbing. "Why did they all have to go? We're all alone now…you, Brian, me…Jesse…he's…he's not here, he can't talk to us. It's like he disappeared. He won't open up to anyone. He's so quiet now; I can't take it!"

Vince held back his own tears so that he could be strong for Mia. "Shhh, don't cry, Mi…just don't cry. Jesse's going to be back in no time…He'll return to himself, I know he will."

"No time? What's no time, Vince?" Mia pulled back, screeching. "It's been 8 months now! Eight months, and he doesn't say a word except for 'good morning' or 'thank you' whenever I give him something! If he's not back now, than what exactly do you call no time? Eight months is definitely some time!"

Vince moved further away from her. He hated it when she screamed at him. It only beat it in further that she'd never love him. He was only her big brother's dumb friend. Vince shuddered to himself and backed out of Mia's room, leaving her in her broken state; backing away from yet another failure. 

Down the hallway, inside a room, a blonde boy sighed. They were talking about him again. Not talking, fighting. _I wish I didn't cause them so much pain…it would've been better if I hadn't survived_. These were the thoughts constantly orbiting his mind, filling voids here and there. He was useless, unloved. He looked down at his chest, at the scars where the bullets had flown through him. They hurt, even after two years, like phantom pains that a person without a leg or an arm might feel. Except, for Jesse, the phantom pains were in his heart and soul. He'd wake up in the middle of the night, and he'd still feel the shame and disgust towards himself as he came to Dominic on that day, begging for help, because of his own foolishness. 

He should have known not to bet the pink slip; should've listened to Brian. Brian was smart, unlike him. Brian was handsome, also unlike him. Jesse wished that he could have the same self-confidence as Dom, the power and respect that Dom had and received. He wished he had Vince's quality to never give up, and Leon's sense of humor. He wished that he could be smart like Melanie. 'She was such an amazing girl…' he would think to himself, often, as he lay in bed, thinking of the team. She'd been a perfect friend for him: funny, loved computers and cars…his idea of a perfect person. _I'll bet that Dom's having the time of his life with her right now…_ He stopped his train of thought; Dominic was the lucky one, not him. Dom had managed to catch her before a single person could even touch her. She loved him. Not Jesse. It was never Jesse.

Always the Mad Scientist, never the Oh-girl-will-you-check-**him**-out guy. If only… If only he were better, then he could have the love he always searched for… 

Jesse lay back on his bed, imagining himself as a better person than he was, missing the fact that he was already an amazing sort of guy, without even needing muscles or looks. He was adorable as he was. He just lay back and hated himself for being himself.

This is what the great, unbeatable team had come to. This is what had come from the famed Toretto Team. If only the other four knew…

TBC 


	2. Scattered: Part 2

Note to CiCi – Sorry, I've already made all of my bad guys, but I would like to have a good guy, particularly someone with an eye for Vince. If you're interested, IM me (my sn is the same as my pen name) and I'll try to put you into some sort of role. 

Speed Girl- same story as CiCi's, but I may be able to squeeze you in as Hector's girl or something (I'm reserving Jesse for a special plot…)

Sorry to everyone else, but I really don't have much room for other people. However, I may ask for a new chara here and there, if need be.

Part Two of Scattered! I know it's a lot shorter than the first part, but I needed to separate Chapter one into shorter versions for my own twisted reasons. (: -D) Enjoy!

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Far away in Mexico were Letty and Leon, lying on a beach in Baja. Letty was stretched out on the ground, reading a cheap drugstore novel while Leon was wading in the ocean. He walked out, making sure that his cupped hands held the salty water that he'd planned on ambushing his new wife with. 

"Leticia…" he purred, stalking up behind her. He made his voice husky, making her think that he wanted her there and then. She turned around to face him, only to be met by a handful of water over her body.

"LEON SANTOS!!!! I'll get you!!" She screamed, chasing after a laughing Leon.

They ran up and down the beach, startling the old people and frightening children. They didn't care; it really was paradise for them. Each step they took together was like climbing clouds-heaven. 

Finally, the couple returned to their spot in the sun and fell on the towel, laughing at each other and at their own actions. People who'd at first been disturbed by the two now looked at them and smiled, acknowledging the love and care that they had for each other.

'Everything is perfect', Letty thought to herself, grinning as Leon kissed her cheek and started dealing out cards for them. They started up their game of Poker, laughing, as the game became one of silly faces. Leon won, no doubt, and then, they just sat back, watching kids play in the water.

"Leon…" Letty murmured sleepily.

"Yeah, chica?"

"Are we ever going to have kids?"

"Of course we are. A boy and a girl," Leon answered as he kissed Letty on her forehead.

"Good…when can we start?"

"Whenever you're ready."

"I think I'm ready…" Letty stated as she closed her eyes, resting on Leon's shoulder.

Flowers were starting to bloom in paradise…

~~~~

"What's up, Natsuko-san?" Josie asked as she sat down on the large couch.

"Johnny. Johnny is gone... dead! That Dominic Toretto killed him!" Natsuko cried out, pain still evident in her eyes.

"Oh no…I am so sorry, Natsuko-san." Josie offered, accompanied by the shaking of heads around her. Chris bowed his head- Johnny and Chris had grown up together, they'd been good friends. He still remembered the day that Johnny and him had met Natsuko and Jade. Jade and Chris had clicked, and to this day, they were still in love.

"What can we do about it?" Trinity asked; her blue-green eyes hardened to a cold stare. Trinity was cold and distant when she wanted to be. Her real name was Catherine Griffin; she'd been with the Tran's for a year. She was 21 now. 

Natsuko looked up at her, admiring Trinity's fast recovery, compared to her own. "Dominic has a girlfriend. Melanie Greenman. I lost the love of my life, and yet she kept hers. Make her pain surpass mine."

Immediately, the people that had gathered around the room understood. Make Melanie hurt- wipe out Dominic and anyone she loved. 

Tempest snapped her head up, and her long, deep red, nearly black curls whipped up with her motion. Contempt showed in her green eyes. "It would hurt more, Natsu-san, if it were her own friends killing off her loves."

Josie was struck with worry. Did they know about her friendship with the rival team? "How could that be?" she asked, wanting an explanation.

"It is simple," Tempest continued, "we create a new team, and befriend the Toretto's, particularly Melanie. Then, when we've gained their trust, we snap off bits of the Toretto chain."

Natsu grinned, a wicked, wicked smirk spreading across her usually lovely features. "Tempest! You are so smart! That is a brilliant plan. A new team, one that will destroy all opposition, in any way, on the road, or with a gun. You shall all become Team Vengeance! Take whatever you need, create your cars, become the ultimate machine, destroy the Toretto's!"

The newly dubbed Team Vengeance grew sinister as they thought about their mission. Tempest, Trinity, Chris, and Heather looked at each other, sinister sparks in their eyes. Josie tried to smile, but she couldn't shake her fear, her sadness at the thought of her classmates and friends dying under Natsuko's campaign against them. Oh, if it could all just stop! If they'd think of what they were about to do! The Toretto's had just stood up from their pain (or so it seemed), and now the ropes of hate would trip them again.

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Oh…what's going to happen? At home, the remainders of the team spin out of control, in Italy, Melanie and Dominic fall in love and become closer, and in Mexico, Leon and Letty are in heaven, with thoughts of a family consuming them. What will take place as a new breed of hate stands to make them fall? Find out in Chapter 2!


	3. Coming Back Together

Hey, sorry it took so long to get this thing on the road, but I've been swamped with homework and Bat/Bar Mitzvah parties and things like that. Anywho, thanks so much to all of the wonderful reviewers, lurrrve you all!

LazySloth- Thanks so much for advertising my story

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"How do you think the others are doing?" Dom's voice interrupted my thoughts as we sat in a park, just hanging out together. 

"What?" That was my clever answer; I guess Dom's right when he teases me about not paying attention. I looked back at him, waiting for him to reiterate.

"I said, how do you think the others are doing? Do you think they're okay?"

"Oh…I don't really know…Mia said that they were getting back to normal, but that was six months ago; I can't be too sure now," I answered only remembering just then that he hadn't known about the phone call. Damn.

"What do you mean, _Mia_ says? How would you know what she's saying?" He had a look on his face that I hadn't seen in a while; he was upset. Damn again. 

"Ah, well…I kind missed everyone a lot, and I figured that they might be worried about us so…I called them." It was the truth, wasn't it? He'd have to forgive me; he had nowhere else to go in Italy.

"You called them," he repeated. I could tell he was trying extremely hard to avoid doing something he'd regret.

"Yes."

"Alright then."

"Are you upset?" Of course he was; the only reason I was asking was because I didn't want him to keep anything bottled up. I'd seen what had happened all those other times where he'd gotten upset. 

"What'd she say?"

"She told me that Jesse was hanging onto his life, and that Vince was let off the hook- Brian somehow made them believe that it really was the Tran's behind the whole thing. And you didn't answer my question."

"What about Letty and Leon?"

"She hasn't heard from them; now answer me! Are you angry at me?"

He inhaled and then let the breath out slowly, forming a sigh as he looked at me. He smiled and said, "No, I'm not." He kissed me on the cheek and continued, "I was just…I wanted to call them...but…"

"I know. I felt the same way before I picked up the phone," I told him, standing up and pulling at his hand. "Come on, let's go back home. We'll call them together."

"Okay, but Mel?"

"Yeah?"

"What if- what if Mia hates me for doing this to the team?"

"She's your sister, she loves you. Don't worry, Dom, they'll only be glad to have you back."

We walked home quietly the rest of the way, holding hands and preparing to make the call back home.

~~~~

"So what do you think of this new program, Mia?" I indicated towards the new car program I'd made. I was trying to make better contact with the rest of team- I didn't want to cause any more problems.

She looked at the rotating Supra on her screen- Brian's car, "Oh, it's great! Glad to see you boys are finally getting around to working on that thing."

I grinned at Mia, and started pointing things out, "Okay, well here's what we can do with colors- I finally put in this thing where we can change colors. Oh, and here's what we can do to rebuild the engine…see, we can take that out and order new parts from Japan. We'll be racing again in no time!" Just the thought made me almost drool- to think, we'd be back at the races, with the old lifestyle back, not to mention all of those beautiful cars around me…I could almost smell the NOS systems going around me! We hadn't raced since we'd gotten back from Race Wars all those years ago.

Mia calling to someone back in the garage made me jump back into the real world. More customers? I thought to myself. This is the busiest day we've had so far! We'd already gotten three orders for tune-ups, two orders for repairs, and then a bunch of other cars needed new shit for the race that was coming up next Friday. The only people working were Brian, Vince and I. How would we ever get this done on time? 

Sighing to myself, I walked out to where Mia had gone and my jaw dropped. She was here. 

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Natsuko took two steps closer to the place where all of her life had been buried. In her hand, she carried a single red rose. It had been a week since he'd gone into the ground, proof that he really was gone.

"Oh, my love…I miss you so much," she whispered, choking on big tears, flooding her face. Natsuko still had a black veil covering her face, and she lifted it up so that she could get a better view of Johnny Tran's tombstone. She choked again and placed her rose gently onto the freshly dug up earth. 

"Johnny…it's Natsu…I know you cannot come back to me, but I promise upon your grave that I will avenge your death. I'll get the Toretto's back for doing this to you…for- for leaving me all alone on this planet! Johnny, I love you, I want you!" She threw her hands to her face, hiding her anguish, but only until her sobs could be heard. She curled up with her head on her knees, letting the heavens hear her cries and moans. The reasons that some died and others didn't were beyond her…all she could do now were bring death to those who deserved it more than her boyfriend had.

~~~~

Back at the Toretto garage, I heard the phone ring, leaving Jesse to take care of the customer. Maybe I shouldn't have, he was about two seconds from falling to his knees and worshipping her. I almost laughed as I picked up the phone.

"Hello, DT Garage, how may I help you?" I asked in the same fashion that Dom had taught me so many years ago. I wish he were here now…

"Mia?" A familiar voice! 

"Um…yeah. Who's this?" I probed, trying to figure out the owner of the feminine voice on the other line.

"Hey girl, how ya livin'?!" 

"Letty!" I screeched. "Oh my God, I haven't heard from you for so long! How are you? _Where_ are you? Did you get married? What did your dress look like?"

"Mia…calm down, we're fine…all three of us." Letty interrupted me, and then paused as she let her last words sink in.

"All three of you? Oh…Letty, did you and Leon…?"

Laughter came from the other line, obviously Leon's. Inhaling the sound I hadn't heard in so long, I asked, "You have a kid now? What's his or her name?"

Letty giggled in reply, "Oh, Mia, thank the car gods that you're still as gullible as always! We don't have a kid, but we do have gold wedding rings on our fingers…Leon and I are going to have a reception when we get back to LA, so you guys can be a part of it!"

What? I knew they'd gotten married but I really needed Letty to stop talking in riddles. When was she coming back? "Let, what's going on? First of all, where are you guys, and second, when are you coming back?"

"Alright, here's the story. Le and I went to Mexico, where we got married" (I could almost hear the smile in Letty's voice) "and then we kind of just…I don't know, stayed for a while, and you know we couldn't call you because of…you know. Anyway, I woke up this morning, and Leon was sitting there, saying that we should call you. I –we- missed you guys so much. Like I said, we don't have kids and I'm not pregnant, I was just playing with you, hehehe. We should be coming home soon, we're actually in the car, and driving to LA- we sold our apartment and all of our shit. So, how are the others?"

Letting the information find a place to rest in my mind, I started to inform Let on what she'd missed. "Well, Brian managed to pin everything on the Tran's- who happen to be dead now, thankfully- and Jesse was pretty hurt, he was in a coma for a little while, but he's doing a lot better now. Ha, he's currently drooling over some chick that wants to get her oil changed or something. Vince's arm has healed completely, but it does hurt him sometimes. Brian's with us; he quit his… job. That's about it." 

'_Dom…what about Dom and Mel?_ ' A voice in my head demanded as I suddenly regretted not even mentioning my own brother. 

"Oh, that's great. What about Dom and Mel-Mel?" I grinned at the use of Mel's infamous nickname.

"I don't really know."

"What does that mean?" 

"Exactly what I said. Mel called me like six months ago, saying she was in Italy. All I know is that her and Dom are back together, and that they're living in some villa in Rome. I haven't gotten a call since."

"Oh no…can't Jesse do a search on them? Look them up like he did Spilner?"

"He's tried, believe me he has, but we can't find them. By the way, it's O'Connor."

"What?" Letty asked me, confused by the last sentence.

"It's O'Connor. Brian's last name is O'Connor. Spilner was his…undercover name."

"Oh…are you two okay?"

"We fixed things. He lives with us now."

"Oh, so when Le and I get back, we're going to see Snowman items all over the house?" 

"Ha ha, that's hilarious…you'll just have to see when you get back, okay? I've got to go now, Jesse _still_ hasn't said a word to that girl; I'll go rescue him. Or her. Whatever, I'll see when you get here, alright, girl?"

Letty laughed on the other end and replied, "Yeah, okay chica, we should be home later tonight. See you then!"

The team was coming back together, just like a puzzle; everyone was coming back into his or her places. Only Dominic and Melanie left…

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Okie, I know that this was a slow chapter, but I needed to sort some things out, and this is my way of getting the team back together without completely dumping everything on you, my lovely readers. So what do you think?

TBC


	4. Phonecalls

Hey all, I know it's been a while, and I've got bad news: it'll take even longer for the next chapter. My Bat Mitzvah is coming up on Friday! That means much practice on my part, and not that much time for ATFV. Never fear, for I will return within 2-3 weeks with a new chapter! Perhaps less, seeing as I was talking to a friend and got an idea to get most of Chapter 4 done before I even started Chapter 3. J Sorry for the wait, so without further ado: Chapter 3!

Lazy-Sloth- yes, suspensefulness is indeed a word. At least, it is now. ;-)

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*Dom's POV*

Mel and I walked back into our villa, holding hands. I'm not sure whether I should be ecstatic or scared that I'm going to call my sister, as well as the rest of my team, in a minute or two. What if they blame me for everything that's happened? It's my fault, I know, but I don't think I could take their accusations. They're my family, and to be reminded by them that _I'm_ the one who screwed everything up isn't exactly the kind of homecoming welcome I'd like to receive.

"Dom…phone's that way, baby." Mel…God, she's been with me this whole time, and I love her…but she could be wrong about them missing me. Sometimes I think I should have died when I went flying in my dad's Charger so many years ago…

"I know…I just wasn't thinking about where I was going." How can she be so calm about this? Here I am, Dominic Toretto, King of the Streets…scared to make a phone call. Making excuses to avoid the ringing that would fill my ears when I dialed the number to the shop.

Mel walked over to me, and placed a light kiss on my cheek. "Don't be scared…they're your family, they _want_ you back. I know it."

"So, you're psychic now, aren't you?" I said to her. She'd read my mind, hadn't she? That's just like Melanie, that's why I love her- she probably knows me better than even I know myself. 

"Always have been," she replied, grinning and pulling me towards the kitchen phone. 

"Dial," she instructed, holding the phone up to me.

Taking the phone, I started dialing. 575-2203…ring...ring…after five more attempts to find someone on the other end, I sighed and hung up.

"What? Why'd you hang up?" Mel had a half-annoyed, half-confused look on her face.

"No one there. I'll try the garage." That's where they had to be, there's almost always someone at DT.

I dialed another number this time, and again came the ring. A phone is like torture at times. When you're waiting to hear something, all you get is the cold ring, and it never changes, just ring after ring, insisting that you wait, but offering no help to alleviate your anticipation.

Ring…

Ring…

Three rings, and a click, followed by a feminine voice. "Hello, DT Automotive repair, how may I help you?"

"Mia…"

"Oh my God, Dom? Dom, is that you?" She was nearly screeching, but I could tell she was crying as well…my baby sister, always the emotional one. 

"Yeah…how…how have things been? Are you okay?" I had very little idea as to what else I could say, so I just let myself ramble.

"Dom, I've missed you so much…everything's going good here. Jesse's back on his feet, Vince has stopped complaining about his arm, almost, Brian came back- he cleared our names completely! Oh, and Letty and Leon are coming back from Mexico tomorrow! Dom, I've missed you so much, when are you and Mel coming back? And how is she? Speak!"

"Mia, Mia, don't get all hysterical on me!" I laughed into the receiver, it was so good to hear her voice again, and I felt so much better having heard how excited she was to hear from me. "That's great, about the team and all…I missed all of you so much. Mel's fine too, happy and all," I explained, still at a loss for most of my vocabulary and moving the phone so that Melanie could hear some of what was going on. I glanced at her for a second, mouthing to her, _When **are** we going home?_

She shrugged as if to say, "I don't know, but hopefully soon." I handed her the phone, a little regretfully- I didn't want to say goodbye to my sister so soon.

*Mel's POV*

"Hey Mi! Oh, we've missed you so much and…"

"Oh my God, Mel, I know! It's been so lonely here without you, and every time I ask for help with the chores, I get shit from Vince about how his arm hurts so much and…ugh, how have you been? Is my brother treating you okay? Is he packing the bags for your return home as we speak?"

I laughed as I heard V yelling at Mia for that comment about his arm, "Mia, your brother is amazing. I'd give you the details, but I don't want to give you a complex or anything."

"Ew."

"Exactly. As for that whole packing thing, hang on, let me ask Dom, he's right here…"

I motioned to Dom, straining for a chance to listen in. "When are we going back?"

He grinned as he replied, "Tomorrow, the guy that let us rent this place is coming back. All we have to do is gather our shit, and sell what we don't need."

"How convenient. There's just one thing. Before we go back to LA, I was thinking that maybe we should stop at my parent's house. I mean, I haven't really seen them in a while, and I want them to meet you. We should stop there for the weekend, is that okay?"

He nodded, and I went back to Mia, waiting expectantly on the phone. "We're leaving Italy later tomorrow, and we have to stop at my parents for the weekend…so…we'll be home in about four days, depending on flights and stuff like that."

"YAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!" Was the reply Dom and I'd been waiting to hear. 

"So, that's okay with you, right?" I joked, laughing as I heard Mia yelling to the guys that we were coming back.

"Mel, it's perfect, I love you, and tell Dom I love him too, and I'll see you when you get here! I've got to go now, Brian's calling, lots of love, bye!"

Still laughing, I looked at Dom, who was beaming like a kid who'd just found out that he was getting a puppy for Christmas, and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Mmm, we're going home, home, home…I can't wait."

"Neither can I," he whispered, pulling me into a hug, "What about your parents? Do you think they'll like me?"

Oh shit. My parents…"Dom, they'll love you. How could they not? You're sweet, charming, funny, and cute…they won't be able to resist you," I told him, enforcing each word with a kiss. I knew how they could resist him…let's think: Conservative Russian Jewish daughter left her 'perfect' lawyer-in-training boyfriend to date 'The King of the Streets'. Oh yeah, they'd love Dom. Hopefully; they'll see how much love we have for each other and let us be. Or they'll tear us to pieces. I'll be the mistake of the family. I cuddled into Dom even more. So warm…

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*flashback*

Mel and Dom still weren't talking and I'd found her in her room, crying. 

"Aw, Mel, don't cry. It'll be okay…" I wasn't the best at soothing a sad person, and I wished so bad that it wasn't Melanie who was crying, it was always ten times worse if she was this sad.

"He's…Jesse, I love him. But how can I…I can't ever tell him, he's so possessive, and I doubt he even cares about me in that way. Tell me, I was just a one-night stand, wasn't I?"

"No…not you, he'd never do that to you. He loves you, I know he does, he's just had some bad relationships, you know? He doesn't know what to do if he's got something good. Give Dom some time, it'll work out." I said to her, pulling her shaking form into a hug. I sighed sadly…no one would ever cry like this for me…no one would care like this for me.

Mel pulled back. "Jess? What's wrong?"

"You cry over Dom, Letty cries over her lost baby with Leon, and men are always worshipping Mia. Everyone has someone. Except for me. I'm always going to be alone, and…it sucks."

Compassion crossed her face. "Don't think like that, Jesse. You're a great guy. There's a girl out there for you somewhere." She smiled, hugged me, and turned on some old movie that was playing so that we could both take our minds off of what we'd just talked about.

*end flashback*

Melanie was right. Here was the finest girl I'd ever seen- she was about 5'6'', and I looked at her from the feet up. Incredible body, leading up to short black hair that had red highlights, and then I met her dark green eyes. They flashed for a minute, some kind of mix between interest at seeing me, and boredom at realizing that I'd been checking her out. Damn, she may have been the one for me but I sure as hell wouldn't be the one for her. She was so far out of my league, reminiscent of Melanie, Mia and Letty- that kind of perfection. 

I could still try, though. "Hi, I'm Jesse, how may I do you? No! I mean, how may I help you? Help…that's the key word…" Did I _really_ just say that? 'How may I DO you'? Oh God, this wasn't my day. Watch her slap me and walk away…

As if by some miracle, she just giggled (showing off a cute smile) and replied, "You may _help_ me by changing the oil in my car. I'm Katherine Marie Lopez…call me Kat."

"Yeah, I'm Jesse. Nice to meet you."

"You already told me your name." Damn. Damn damn damn.

"Haha, I guess I did. Um…yeah, anyway, just, come here, and I'll um…I'll…just come here." I said smartly, pointing towards the register.

"Wait, don't you want to see my car first? I mean, I wouldn't say I'm an expert…but you may want to just check out my car before you charge me."

"That would definitely help." I grinned, a sad, pathetic offering in attempt to lighten the depressing state I'd crawled into within my first sentence, and followed her to her car.

"Ah! That's a nice car! Who did it for you?" I asked, staring at her 95' black Nissan Skyline GT-R. There was an angel painted on the hood, with silver and purple flame decals going down the sides of car. I prowled around the machine, taking in the every bit, and I stopped at the license plate. 'Falling Angel'. 

"I did it all by myself," she stated proudly. 

"Good job. I like the decals…" What the hell had happened to me? My ADD was pretty bad, but this was just crazy. I couldn't get a sentence out correctly, and I was asking the stupidest questions. 

I busied myself by checking the engine out, analyzing what had to be done, besides the oil.

"Hey, Kat. There are some things in here that need to be taken apart and replaced. It looks like someone's been driving high-speed all night. What have you done to this car?"

Something flashed across her face again; was it fear? I couldn't tell, because she'd started to answer me. "I've always wanted to go to Los Angeles, so I guess when I saw the 'welcome' sign, I started to rush. Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

"No, it's okay, we can fix everything. So you just moved here? Do you live anywhere around this particular area?" Please say yes, please say yes…

"Yeah, do you know that house with all of those supped-up cars out front? There's a yellow Skyline, and then a light blue Eclipse…"

"That's my house!" I think I said it a little too loud- Kat took a step back.

"Right, I just moved in next door. I just came here from…never mind where I'm from, actually. It's not important." She said the last sentence in a sigh, like she was just tired. Again, that dark look flashed across her face. 

That was alright, I wouldn't push. Instead, I changed the subject. "Do you race?"

"I've only done it once, and I had such a great time. Then, I heard about Dominic Toretto, and the whole Toretto team and I just had to come down here. Wait a minute…they call you the Mad Scientist, don't they?"

She knew me! Me! "Yep, that's my name. Besides Jesse, that is," I added with a grin. 

She laughed again and started talking, "Wow, I've heard about all of your skills with cars. I'm kind of honored that you're going to work on my GT-R! Um, by the way, maybe…do you want to hang out with me sometime, or something?" She'd gotten as nervous as I had been a couple of minutes ago. Okay, so, now that we were kind of on the same level, I could ask her to come over or hang with the team…she'd be around all of the guys, so they'd boost my rep, and I'd hang out with Kat.

"Sure, how about you come over to my place on Sunday? We have a barbeque every week, so I'd be happy if you could come over. Mia won't mind, she loves having more people over."

"Really?" Her eyes grew wide at the offer. "Is…is Dominic going to be there?"

"No…he's not here now…he went to Italy with his _girlfriend_. He'll be back in a week, I think." Not another Dom worshipper…I put an accent on girlfriend, just to make sure that she knew I was the one who wanted her attention.  

"Oh, alright then, I'll be over on Sunday, okay? Oh, and when should I pick my car up?"

"Well…" I flexed my powers right then, "we're pretty busy now, so normally, your car would have to wait for a little while, but, you're new here, so I'm going to try to squeeze you in early and finish your GT by tomorrow. Do you need a ride to come pick it up?"

"Sure, wow, you're so helpful, Jesse. I've got to go now, but I'll see you later, it was nice meeting you!"

I grinned, watching her walk away… 'Nice meeting you…' her last words rung in my ears.

Life was good.

^_____________________________________________________________________________________________________^

Woo! Go Chapter 3! Funny thing that I realized as I wrote in Kat. My best friend is named Kat, and I was going to have her be Jesse's girlfriend before I put in the Create-Your-Chara thing (closed at the mo) and got Fallen Angel's bio. What a coincidence. Quick note: Everyone must go download District Sleeps Alone Tonight by The Postal Service. I was at Hot Topic when they played it, and now I'm crazy about the song, particularly when it gets up to 2 minutes and 50 seconds into the song, and after. It sounds so nice; I love it!! *stops shameless advertising* 

Love you all *smile*,

~*Mel*~

P.S.- The genre of ATFV is Action, and there will be action, I promise!! Next chapter…muahahaha…


	5. Home's Where The Heart Is

Sorry about the wait guys, lurve ya for staying with me! Here's an extra-long chapter!

Mel and Dom are in Pennsylvania, visiting her parents. What kinds of surprises are in store for the happy couple?

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"You're paranoid, honey."

"Thanks, muffin. Anyway, look at your background, and look at mine. They'll think I'm trash."

I looked over at Dominic, nervously contemplating his fate at meeting her parents. His brow was furrowed, and all I wanted to do was grab him in a hug and just stay where we were (rounding the corner into my neighborhood). "Dom, please. They'll love you. It shouldn't matter where you come from; the only thing that matters is how you treat me- like I'm a princess. I've said it a million times, they'll adore you!"

"Note how the key word is should. Be honest, Melanie. They'll disapprove. I'm not saying hate, but admit that your parents would want someone…of higher status rather than a drag racer from the streets of LA." He took a quick look at me, his deep, soulful eyes begging for honesty. The least I could do was comply. I traced my finger along the Tiffany's necklace that had my name and Dom's engraved upon it. _Love you forever, Dom _was on one side, and then, on the other was _Dominic and Melanie 1998_. The year we'd met. 

"You're right, Dominic," I confessed, "They won't exactly jump for joy when they find out about you, but, they'll get used to it. The only thing they'll be able to have against you is the stupid fact that you're not Jewish, and they won't get a wedding in a synagogue."

"Wedding?" He smiled when he said that, but I saw that he was confused- we hadn't even discussed marriage.

I grinned back, blushing, "My parents kind of have this thought that, if I bring a guy home, he's important, thus he's supposed to marry me or some shit like that. I'm not pressuring you or anything, it's just…"

"Have you thought about becoming a Toretto?" He was serious now. 

"I thought I became a Toretto when I joined the team."

"You know what I mean."

"Ha, yeah…it's crossed my mind." I stared at him as we parked into the driveway.

He took the key out of the ignition, turned to me and kissed me, softly, and said, "We can talk about this later, okay? I want to know what you've been thinking. For now, let's stay on surviving this weekend. You sure you don't want to go to LA and skip this?"

"Dom! Come on!" I pushed him playfully and took a few steps ahead of him toward the barbeque already taking place in my parent's backyard. I glanced back and saw him pick up a bag and follow. He was so cute when he was nervous (which was rarely). As I took one step into the backyard, the entire splashing coming from my little cousins and cousin's-in-law stopped, whoever was manning the grill turned around, and my grandparents stopped discussing the aforementioned cook's skills. They stared at me. Finally, I had their attention. I ran a finger through my currently red-streaked hair, and said a quiet, "Hey everyone."

"MELANIE!!!!! Daragahya (dear) we haven't seen you in so long, it's like you disappeared!"

Making my smile a little bit wider, I extended my arms to welcome the incoming flood of relatives. At last, they took a step back and surveyed me. Some looks of shock were seen as some of the older people glanced at my hair, but everyone nearly fainted when they saw the big, bald man behind me_. Meet Dommy, everyone_, I thought to myself.

I heard one of mom's friends whisper to my aunt, "Who is _that_?"

I started to explain, but I was interrupted as the family pulled away from me and ran to my dearest, angelic cousin Alicia. I had a double take when I saw who she was standing next to. Who she had her arms around. That son-of-a-bitch. Mike was standing there, grinning wide as the attention was stolen from me and showered onto him.

"Dom…Dom, why's he here?" My throat closed up as I remembered our last encounter, and I hugged Dom tightly.

He threw an arm around me and let out a growl that I only heard, "I was just about to ask the same thing myself." He was steaming, I could tell in his voice, which rivaled that of an extremely angry bear.

My family all realized that I hadn't known about Mike and Alicia, and they pulled back, watching the both of us, waiting for something. 

Alicia glanced at Dominic, recognizing him, and then she averted her eyes and walked over to me and hugged me, more of a gesture to the family, rather than to me.

"Mel! I missed you so much! How have you been? It's great to see you!"

I noticed a glint coming from her right hand. I gave her a fake smile, saying, " I missed you too! I haven't seen you since..." I trailed off, not wanting to say 'since you fucked things up between Dom and me'. I indicated to the ring shining merrily on Alicia's finger, "What's that?"

She grinned back at me, "Oh my G-d, can you believe it? I'm getting married!"

Sighing, I looked pointedly at Mike, who was still standing like a kid who was being fussed over by two rich grandmothers. "Who's the lucky man?"

"Michael! He propose- oh. Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry...but...we got to talking after you left and…the rest is history, I guess." She gave me one of her sweetest, most endearing smiles. Whatever.

While this was going on, Dom was standing stock still, getting angrier and angrier. He still didn't say anything, and this was definitely his worst form of anger. I was almost scared for them. I moved to get to his side, but Michael, who also walked over to hug me, intercepted the action. I recoiled from him.

"Mel, baby...come on, we had a good thing, but you know it couldn't last. We had problems, you just didn't love me enough..." Wow, was I pissed. _Never loved you enough, you bastard? Bullshit._ I bit my tongue and let him speak his last words. "But, we should put the past behind us. We're all adults. Be happy for me and my bride to be..."

I wanted, so badly, to scream "Was it an adult thing when you talked me into sleeping with you, and then I had to find out that you cheated on me?? Was it an adult thing when you came to Los Angeles to get me back and forced me to kiss you? When you offended the man I love?" 

If Dominic hadn't grabbed my arm, I realized that I would've hurt Michael. Badly.

Disregarding the whole moment, Alicia kissed Mike on the cheek, "Hehe, you're a poet and you didn't even know it!"

Mike laughed back, and spoke to me, "I bet I'm just as good a poet as you are, Mel!"

My Aunt Lana, Alicia's mother, spoke up, causing me more embarrassment, "You write poems? Oh, you have to share them later!" Dom gave me a look, as if he was saying, "How could they not know that you write poems?" I shook my head in response. No one but Dom knew about what I personally wrote. 

My dad decided that the awkward moment was gone, and so he figured that maybe it was time for him to bring it back. He stared at Dominic for a moment, still a stranger in his home, and said, bluntly, "Why are you still here?"

"Excuse me?" Dom looked up at the fact that someone had actually noticed him. 

My dad sighed at what he thought was Dom's stupidity, and continued, "Aren't you the bag boy? Melanie couldn't have carried all of those things in on her own...thus she hired you, thus you are here. Oh! She didn't pay you, hang on..." My dad pulled a wad of money out of his pocket and handed it to Dom. "I also included tip." He waited expectantly to be thanked.

Dom was fuming. If you looked close enough, you'd probably see smoke coming from his ears. "Look, I don't think you know who I am", he growled, "I'm not a fu-"

"Dom! Wait," I whispred before he opened his mouth. "Don't be angry...they're..." he nodded, and I spoke louder, "Everyone, this is Dominic, my boyfriend...of the last three years. 

Dom grinned, obviously satisfied. He stuck out a hand to my gaping father. "It's nice to meet all of you. You seem so outgoing and friendly…" he finished, the sarcasm kept to point so that only I could figure it out. 

I was holding back giggles as Dom and I walked to the house to put our bags away.

~~~~~

"She can't be serious!" Melanie's mother was sporting an aggravated look as she watched Melanie and Dominic walk away, arms locked around waists. 

"He looks like a gangster or a hoodlum in that- that outfit," hissed Michael's mother, Faina. 

"Well, look at it this way," supplied the ever-optimistic Aunt Lana, "If she couldn't keep Mike, who was perfect, then how can she keep that wreck?"

The other ladies mumbled in agreement; Lana had a point.

~~~~~

*Dom's POV*

Later that afternoon, Mike and his friends (sons of family friends) decided that the best way to welcome me was to insult and berate him to within an inch of my sanity. This was going to be fun.

I turned away from my own thoughts and watched as Alicia, her sister, Gina, and some other girl gaped in awe at Micheal as he explained the tribulations of being in some boot-camp-like swim team that was allegedly the highest-ranking team in Bucks County when he was 17. I couldn't even begin to think of a worse fate…

Sighing to myself and muttering, "What a jackass" under my breath, I let my eyes roam over to where Mel was being interrogated by an aunt or two. I could honestly feel her anger rise from across the yard as she answered dumb questions ("No, the hairdresser wasn't angry with me." "I really did mean to have it this color!" and my favorite, "I do not need medication! I don't even think they make medication for people with red-streaked hair!"). I snickered to myself and rose to go save her when I was stopped by a whiny voice.

"Hey Dom, how'd you get your muscles so big?" 

I think the girl's name was Anna, anyway, here was my chance to instill a little fear. I was tired of old Mike's bullshit. "You wouldn't want to do what I did to get this way." I left them, questioning my answer, and crept up behind Melanie, grabbing her waist. 

"Hi Dommy! What's going on? How are they treating you?"

_Like shit_, was what I wanted to say, but instead, I told her, "Fine…I'm hungry. When are we eating?"

"Now, come on," she laughed, pulling me towards the long picnic table across from the pool. 

As we sat down, I noticed briefly that Mike was nowhere to be seen.  "Babe, where'd Mike go? I don't trust him," I whispered to Mel. 

She didn't answer, since, right at that moment, Mike walked out of the house with Melanie's dad. They didn't look happy as they sat down. Mike smirked at me and looked away, asking for some dish to be passed his way- the perfect model of politeness. 

Suddenly, everyone sat down, and food was being sent, this way and that. About a million dishes I'd never even heard of where passed my way, and I kindly accepted one or two that looked edible. I chuckled as I noticed Mel do the same.

"So what's this about you being incarcerated, Dominic?" It wasn't a question; it was more of a cold, hard fact. I stared at Melanie's father as the woman around the table gasped, and the men tried to figure out what incarcerated meant (they didn't speak the best English, as I'd found out earlier). Melanie sat with a horrified look on her face. So she hadn't told. 

"How do you know I was incarcerated?" I felt the blood heating up inside of me, and clutched onto the arms of my chair to avoid doing anything stupid.

"It's called the internet. You can look up anything on anybody, smart one," chimed Mike. He had his arm around Alicia 'protecting' her from the criminal sitting across from her. I fought back laughter as I realized that if I even raised a finger to him, he'd run screaming.

"You beat a man so badly they threw you into jail for two years?" continued Vlad (Mel's dad). "What makes you think you're capable of being a good boyfriend?"

I wasn't a good boyfriend…I was the love of Melanie's life, she always told me that. "Yes, I did that in my past, but you don't know the whole story as to _why_ I did it, and, anyway, what makes you think that'll make me a bad boy-" I stopped. They actually thought I would hurt-abuse- Melanie.

"You think Dominic's going to hurt me? How could you?" Mel was right there voicing my thoughts. "The last person in the world to hurt me would be Dom; he loves me!"

Nodding, I went on, "Right, I'd never touch Mel the wrong way; I'd die before doing that. If you want to know about abuse, talk to your boy Mike over there."

Clearly, I'd uttered a curse, because all of a sudden, voices shut up, defending Mike.

"He's so calm!"

"He wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"That's a lie, I mean, look who's talking!"

"STOP!!!" Melanie screamed out, causing everyone to drop the noise. I smiled, _that's my girl…_ "He's telling the truth; Dominic never lies," she sighed and continued, "about two or so years ago, literally minutes after Dom and I got together, he came into the market where we work, and said that he wanted me back. I never wanted to see Mike again, so I told him that I had a boyfriend and that I didn't want him back. Long story short, before I knew what was going on, Mike had me pressed up against the counter, and he was twisting my wrists, on purpose." She fell back into her chair, hand over eyes.

"They were red all night, and the day after," I added, staring straight at Michael, who was shrinking back into his own seat.

Vlad shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and said, slowly, "That may be true, however, I will not have a criminal and an ex-con in my family. Get out of my house. Now."

I rose up to my full height, and yelled, "This is bull! I watched my father burn to death because Linder just _had_ to win that damn race! What I did wasn't just mindless battery, and you all think I'm some kind of maniac who beats on people for no reason. I _will_ leave, but only because I refuse to be discriminated by people ignorant to the situation!" I lowered my voice to a growl and went on, grabbing whatever I'd brought as I walked out, "Next time, try to realize what a person's reason for crime is, rather than setting up some kind of a witch trial!"

I flung the door of our rental car open and jammed the key into the ignition. 

"Wait! Dominic!" Always. Melanie was always behind me, and that's why I loved her. She was the only person to really listen when I was serious, or upset, or anything. I waited patiently while she climbed in next to me.

"That went well," she stated simply, not trying to be condescending, just trying to lighten the dark mood that had come over us like a cloud.

"Thanks for coming with me."

"I'd never let you leave without me, you know that. I love you, Dominic."

A chill went up and down my spine as I smiled again and placed my hand over hers. "I love you too, baby."

The rest of the ride to the airport was silent as I tried my best to calm down. I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd ruined something. This was the girl I wanted to marry, and how could there even be a marriage when her father would rather break his own legs than walk her down the aisle and let me have her? Storms were brewing, and I knew that, despite everything, the last person standing wouldn't be me. Call it intuition, but something; _something_ would go wrong, and soon. I reached out to grab her hand. 

Right before I touched her, she shivered and spoke one last sentence; "Something's wrong. I just feel really weird, and I don't know why…"

So she felt it too. 

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TBC

What do you think?


	6. The Barbeque

Sorry about the delay, folks, but my teachers are, as always, on a homework binge. *shakes fist* On with the story…

No Corona! What will the reunited team do?!

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"Oh my G-d, girl!!! Look at you!!!" One shriek coming from inside the house told me all I needed to know as to what was coming. I braced myself for the oncoming one-woman stampede.

"Oof!" There it was. Wow, she's gotten stronger; I clung on to Leon for support (bad idea- we fell).

"Oh, I'm so sorry, let me help you up Letty!" I sighed as I let Mia pull me up. Guess I'd gotten too used to jut lounging around in bed, hehe.

"And me? What about me, chica? You just gonna leave me on the ground, where there could be a dangerous spider that's plotting to attack me, or some sort of-" Leon was quieted by a hyper Fernando. 

"Vicious Chihuahua?" Vince laughed out as he followed Mia out of the large white house that always had- and always will be- my home. It had been so long, and I'd been so scared of never coming back. Family means so much to me, especially since my father's death.

Pulling myself out of old memories, I snickered along as Leon smacked Vince on the arm and threw our suitcases in his direction. 

"Carry!" Leon demanded, standing one inch shorter than Vince. Mia and I giggled as the two began to argue.

"I am _not_ carrying your damn bags in, you do it! You've been in Mexico on the beach all along, and Mia's been playing slave driver over here! Carry your own bag in! Besides, my arm hurts…" V complained, rubbing his tattooed and scarred arm gently.

Mia interjected, saying, "You liar! You took your pills this morning, you aren't in any pain!"

"What the hell's going on out here? I'm supposed to get time to re-, rec-"

"Recuperate, and we'll quiet down soon, dinner's almost ready, okay? Kat called and said she might be late, though," Mia offered, helping Jesse while bringing a satisfied look on his face at the same time.

I looked up at the boy who'd been like a little brother to me for so long. He was a little bit paler now, and his eyes had a kind of haunted look in them. Nonetheless, he was still smiling that sweet smile he'd always had. I rushed up to hug him, Fernando yapping along behind me.

"Jess, I missed you! How are you doing?" I asked, just as Leon rushed up and hugged his little brother tightly. 

"I'm alright, you know, just taking it a day at a time. How are you guys doing? You took a long honeymoon down there, you crazy kids!" He broke into another grin as Leon pushed at him and started mumbling incoherent words.

Smiling for about the millionth time that day, I walked into the living room to find that nothing had changed, all of the pictures were still hanging on the walls, from the ones from when we were kids, all the way up to when Melanie had joined us. I looked at this one shot of all seven of us from when we'd gone to Race Wars, three years back. Leon was holding me and making jokes at the same time, Dom had his arms wrapped around Melanie's waist (A/N: Remember this pic? : P), and he had his face nuzzled into her neck, but he was so obviously laughing with the rest of us. 

"Letty, can I get some help in here?" Mia called from the kitchen where I noticed Brian was getting under her feet, trying to help and miserably failing. Home's where the heart is, for sure.

*Dom's POV*

We climbed into the driveway that I never thought I'd see again. Exhaling, I pulled the key out of the ignition and sat for a second.

"Let's go…they'll be eating soon, and you know how Vince gets," Mel prodded at me. I nodded and opened the door, walking around to where Melanie was waiting for me.

She smiled up at me, an angelic little grin; "We're home!"

Wrapping my arms around her waist, we started up the porch steps towards the already noticeable aroma of my sister's cooking. I kissed Mel on the top of her head before we moved any further. "Don't forget, I still want to talk about you becoming a Toretto, baby. We never finished that conversation."

She laughed and rested her head on my shoulder, pulling me towards the kitchen brimming with people.

"Haven't you guys heard that too many chefs spoil the soup?" Mel asked, laughing at the sight of Brian getting a lecture from Vince as to where the chicken should go. 

"Dominic! Melanie!! It's been ages!!" Mia screamed, shoving everyone else out of the way in order to get to us.

"Aw, Mi, it's great to see you, but I've kind of grown accustomed to breathing on a regular basis…would you let go, please?" Mel staggered back for a second fake choking as Leon grabbed her by the hands and twirled her around. Vince sniggered, "No, we haven't heard that, and in case you haven't noticed-"

"We don't got soup!" Jesse finished.

"There you go, man," Vince laughed as Jesse completed his sentence. 

I was taken by the fact that Jesse was right there, standing in front of me, snickering like nothing had ever happened. So many nights, I'd stayed awake in her arms, wondering how Vince was, whether Jesse was alive. Everyone I loved was right in front of me, my whole family was still surrounding me, fighting, talking, shouting- they were all still right here. I started plowing through the group, shaking hands and hugging the guys, kissing all of my favorite girls…until I saw Brian.

"Spilner. Is that still your name? What do you call yourself, detective?" I boomed out loud, silencing the joyful team.

"It's O'Connor, Dom. Always has been. And, I'm not with the police anymore. I work at Harry's and at DT."

"Oh, so you work at _my_ shop, huh?" I noticed that everyone else was in fear for Brian, scared of what I might do. I continued in an even more threatening voice, "You work at the establishment that _my_ father passed down to me? Who let you stay?"

He started to stammer, "Dom…you know I didn't want to take you guys down in the end- I gave you the Supra!"

"Shut up!" I growled, and then I grinned. "Can't you see the food's getting cold? Come on, everyone outside, airplane food sucks!" Everyone let out a sigh of relief as I pushed Brian outside to the picnic table, a sign of my acceptance. 

"Um, excuse me! Jesse? Which way should I come in?" came a voice from outside the gate. A girl with purple streaks in her hair stood at the gate, waiting for a welcome.

"Kat! Come in, girl, I can't believe we almost started dinner without you!" Jesse dashed to the gate and held it open for the girl as she walked in.

"Hi. Who are you?" Melanie asked, bluntly. 

"My name's Kat, Jesse invited me. Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Melanie. Dominic here invited me a while ago, and look what happened, we're still eating!" Melanie laughed, along with the rest of the family, including myself. 

Kat grinned and plopped down next to Jesse as I placed the task of saying grace onto her shoulders. 

"Aw, fine. I'll do it. Wait, how come Mel isn't doing it? She just reached for the bread!" Kat complained.

Glancing over at Mel, sheepishly returning the cornbread to the plate with a look that said, 'It's been a while, I forgot!' I told her, "Fine Mel; _you_ can do the prayers tonight. Do 'em in Hebrew."

Blushing a very deep red, she said, "Nooo, Kat can have the honor, in any case, I only know the prayer for grape juice. Besides, my hair hurts too much."

Everyone started laughing at the inside joke which had been created partially at my expense, although that was a completely different story. Finally, I gave in. "Alright, alright! I'll say grace tonight, is that okay with everyone?"

"AMEN!" came the resounding chorus.

~~~~

"What the hell is this?" Vince moaned as he went to the cooler for a Corona.

Letty went to check out what Vince was griping about. "I think that's called an empty cooler, darling. See- nothing inside," she stated matter-of-factly.

"No shit, Sherlock," Jesse said, also wandering over to stare at the abyss in front of him.

"How can this house not have beer? We haven't had any parties in a while…" Brian murmured, joining the crowd.

"Well, of course, less demand calls for a smaller quantity of the products," Mel said, taking a sip of Corona and passing the rest to Dominic.

"Thanks, babe. Someone needs to go out and buy more, or at least make coffee or something," he added after taking a sip.

By now, seven people were staring at a hole filled with nothing but some ice cubes, as if they were expecting more beer to appear. Melanie sighed, standing a few feet away from the sight, and offered, "How about I go get the beer? Will that make everybody happy?"

"Yes mommy, buy me some candy too," Vince snickered.

"Okay, no beer for the V-man, seeing as he's a random idiot," came her response. "Does anyone else want anything while I'm gone?"

Dom crept up behind her and locked two powerful arms around her waist. "I should go with you…make sure you don't get cold," he whispered, kissing her temple.

"Ewww, public displays of affection, make them stop!" Mia groaned as Leon and Letty followed suit and Brian pulled her into a kiss.

Mel managed to stop the fun (and the terror in Jesse, Vince, and Kat) by moving away from me and grabbing her keys. 

"Okay. I am going to get beer for you people. When I come back, there had better not be any pregnant girls up in here! I swear, the way you couples act…disgusting! At least get a room…" She went off like that, grumbling like an angry old person.

"Bye chica!!" yelled the girls and Leon, as Vince and Dominic sat down with empty hands, talking about what they'd missed.

~~~~

Melanie pushed her Postal Service CD into the disc player and sang with the simple verses. 

//You have a lure I can't deny,

But, 

You've had your chance so say goodbye...

Say goodbye…//

She rounded the corner to the supermarket, speeding up in the empty street. She loved it when there was no one on the road; she could speed as her heart desired, and go flying over hills and bumps, thus setting her mind and soul free.

"Nothing like the speed," she said to herself as she approached the intersection leading to the market. 

As she drove forward, she heard a sickening croak as if her bumper was being ripped out. The front of her Nissan flew forward, crumpling into a nearby building. Melanie screamed as she looked at her hand and saw blood spilling. The windshield made a crunching noise as it fell on top of her, and her car scrunched together like a piece of crumpled paper. 

She fell onto her wheel which let out a long beep, softly fading away in her failing consciousness.

Far off, the sounds of an ambulance and wheels screeching could be heard, coming to save the girl who would least likely see light again. In Melanie's mind, black swam like an inky dark void, swallowing her mind and thoughts, making her numb all over.

TBC

What do you think? 


	7. Complications

Hey everyone, sorry about the constant delays in updating, but I've been really busy. L Love ya for sticking with me!

Chapter 6- Discovery

Bad news for Dominic…

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"Where the hell is she?" I asked, pacing the living room in front of the team. Melanie had gone for beer an hour ago, and she still hadn't come back. I didn't want to be worried, maybe she just got sidetracked or something. Maybe she was coming home as I was thinking.

"Oh, come on, Dom. You know that girl. She probably saw something pretty in a store window and stopped in," Leon said, obviously trying to stop my burning a hole in the rug from my constant pacing.

I came to a stop and slumped into my favorite chair. "Yeah, you're right. She could at least call though, you know, just to let us know that she's okay."

As if on cue, the phone rang and I reached to answer. "Hello?"

"May I please speak to Dominic Toretto?" The voice wasn't familiar, but it was some guy with a calm tone. Must've been a telemarketer.

"Speaking."

"Mr. Toretto, I'm afraid that I have to be the carrier of bad news. There was an accident earlier today, near Publix. Would you happen to know the owner of a black Nissan 300ZX? There's a distinguishing trail of blue flames along the doors."

My heart froze, and I had to lick my lips before I could speak again. "That's…that sounds like my girlfriend's car. Melanie Greenman... Is she okay?"

"I'm sorry. She was involved in the accident, as you may have guessed, and she is in a poor state. At the moment, she is unconscious- the doctors cannot classify her case as a coma yet. However, she will be taken into surgery soon, where I assure you we will do our best to restore her as best as we can."

"Oh…G-d, no. What are her…chances?" She couldn't leave me…not after she promised never to go…

*flashback*

"Dom, what's wrong? You've been distracted all evening," Melanie asked, worried about me.

She was right; I'd been keeping my mind away from her all night- I'd barely talked to her. She was anxious about what was going on with me; she always worried about one of us on the team.

"You're a smart girl, and believe me, there are millions of men out there that could give you a life I could only dream of giving you. Why are you still with me? How can you choose me over someone who can give you the world?"

She had pulled away from me; I'd hurt her. "How can _you_ think that I'm that shallow? Dominic, I love you, more than anything. I'd never want more because you're already giving me everything I want. You're smart and sweet, and you're perfect for me. What brought this about?"

"I don't know, I just started thinking when you were telling me about your family. I…I guess I got scared that you'd leave me like all the others did."

She kissed my cheek, softly and pulled my hand to her, saying, "Dom, I promise, I'm all yours, I love you, and I'd never leave you. I promise that we'll be together forever- you'll always be a part of my life."

Grinning, I pulled her closer until I closed the gap between us with my lips. _I'd never leave you_, still buzzing in my ears. I loved her so much.

*end flashback*

"Like I said, she's in a poor state, we'll have to wait until the surgery is over to find out. In the meantime, you may come here to gain more information from her doctor when he's done taking care of her. Once again, I'm sorry for having to inform you of this sad matter, but I'm sure it'll all work out for the best. Take care."

_All work out for the best? _ What was that? Putting it out of my thoughts, I turned to the expectant eyes before me.

"She wasn't shopping." I fell back into my chair; hand over my eyes. _I'll never leave you, Dominic…_

"What happened, bro?"

"She…when she went to get the beer, there was an accident. She got hit. They don't know if she'll be okay." I stood back up, grabbing my keys. "I'm going down there."

"We're coming with you, Dom. She's as much a part of us as she's a part of you!" Mia yelled out, Brian at her heels, and everyone else following suit.

All eight of us packed into cars and drove down the street like some kind of parade. I rode alone, stuck with the smell that Mel's perfume had left on the passenger seat over the years. 

*****

Dominic and the others reached the hospital in record time, Dom nearly flying out of his car to get to the glass doors of the large white building. Dom stood for a second, pulling in a few breaths to gather more energy.

He hurried to the nurse nearest him, getting directions on where to go, and, having reached his destination, paced around the waiting room. 

He continued to pace throughout the night, into the next morning.

What if she's not okay? What if- no, I can't think like this. Stop thinking negative thoughts, Toretto! She'll be all right, Melanie will recover, and she'll come home…

"It'll be okay, Dom. She's a fighter, I mean, she's stuck with you all these years, hasn't she?" Mia smiled weakly, trying to cheer up her brother a little bit. He only returned the smile, even fainter than hers was, and said, "I hope you're right, Mi."

"Hey, is that the doctor?" Mia asked, pulling away from Dominic's hug. She was looking at a man approaching them, wearing a white coat.

"Mr. Toretto, I presume?" The doctor questioned as he came near a worried looking man, pulling his hand across his head every few minutes.

"Yeah. Are you Melanie's doctor?"

"Yes, but first, tell me how you are related to the patient."

"She's my girlfriend. Is she okay?" He didn't want to say, "Is she alive?"- the prospect of a negative answer scared him more than anything.

The doctor took a breath before speaking, and Dominic winced, preparing himself for the worst. "She's awake now, although she does have a slight headache. Howev-" The doctor never finished his sentence.

Dom ran down the hallway, towards the room where Melanie was staying.

"Wait! Mr. Toretto, there was a complication!"

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TBC

What do you think?

Sorry it's so short, but I'll get to working on Chapter 7 ASAP!


	8. But, You Love Me

Sorry for the even longer delay this time, but I have a bad schedule, and my mind is starting to wander off to other stories and such. Gomen nasai, perdono, eezveenayti (I think that's right…), and a million other apologies! Enjoy the story, and thanks for staying with the story!

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"Melanie!" 

Dominic could hardly breathe as his eyes fell upon a barely moving form lying in front of him on a pasty white bed. The quiet beeping of a monitor filled the room. He inched nearer to the bed reaching out to touch Melanie.

Melanie looked up at the strange man who'd entered her room. She was scared- the man was tall, and very muscular with a shaved head. Was he dangerous? She blinked in confusion and bewilderment.

"Who are you?" came her question, a knife in its innocent brutality.

Dominic held back a breath as he choked out words. "You know who I am," he whispered to the girl lying in front of him with a blank face. She had to know him. She _had_ to know who he was.

"I'm your boyfriend," he pressed on, urging her to remember.

"I don't…I don't have a boyfriend. I don't even know your name," Melanie whispered, ducking her head a little further underneath her blanket. She was scared of him; she didn't know the man standing in front of her.

The doctor came in behind Dominic with Mia at his heels. He sighed when he saw the pained look on Dominic's face and took him into the hallway to speak privately with him and Mia.

"I'm afraid she has amnesia, Mr. Toretto. We have performed a few tests on her to see just how much she's forgotten, and speaking for her mental capacity, she has kept all of her academic knowledge intact. She has started to remember her parents, and friends that have been with her for most of her life. We've actually been able to calculate how many years of information Melanie has stored in her mind, and that is sixteen years, along with any of the curricular classes she's taken. It's very remarkable indeed that Melanie has been able to retain so much after a crash with such an impact," the doctor paused to breathe and continued, "However, we used pictures that she kept in her purse to see if she could recollect who the people in the photographs were, and she drew a complete blank. She could not recognize them at all. Those pictures were of you, your sister, and a few of the people gathered in the waiting room. I'm terribly sorry." 

Dom felt anguish flood his whole body as he sought to understand why the woman who loved him so much couldn't remember him. "Is she going to get better? Will she eventually remember me?"

The doctor shook his head sadly, "Unfortunately, there is no telling as to whether a patient will definitely remember everything. The only thing that can be done is to wait and help her. If she doesn't remember you, you may need to either restart a relationship, if she wishes, of course, or simply break ties with her, as the pain may become unbearable to you. It's happened before."

As the doctor finished, Dom pulled the door to Melanie's room open again, sat by her on the bed, and placed a hand on each of her arms, shaking her gently. 

"Come on, you have to remember me! You know me; you love me! Can't you recognize my face? We were fighting just a few days ago, you know, on how your parents didn't like me! We're supposed to talk-" he felt himself being jerked away by a pair of strong arms while Melanie sat in front of him, crying.

"Get away from me!" She yelled, looking at him with hurt eyes that flashed from green to brown. "Please, don't hurt me! Don't come near me again!"

Dominic froze at her words, too shocked to move. "We were gonna talk about getting married…you said you'd thought about being my wife," he whispered like a heartbroken child reaching out for affection. "You love me…"

His big brown eyes brimmed for a moment as Mia pulled him outside, back to Dr. Hastings. 

The disappointment showed in the doctor's eyes as he began to lecture, "Mr. Toretto, can't you understand that she's just come out of very intense surgery? Don't you see that she needs some peace, and all you're doing is stressing her out? What you have done may be traumatizing towards her recovery! I'm going to have to ask you to leave immediately."

Dom looked back through the small glass window at his girlfriend, huddled together with her hands resting on her knees, as if she had indeed been further traumatized. 

_She has to know me…she can't just forget me like that, amnesia or not…_he thought to himself, watching her turn to stare at him. He mouthed, "I'm sorry" to her, and attempted to wave feebly at her, but all his beloved did in reply was to shake her head and look away. Dominic sighed as the deep brown hair he'd always used to run his hands through fell down her back. She wasn't his anymore, and he'd done nothing wrong; done nothing to deserve this kind of torture.

Just then, the other members of the team; Letty, Leon, Jesse, Vince and Brian approached the door and Vince moved to turn the knob. Dom shook his head as a signal to leave her alone and glanced at Mel one last time as he turned to face the others. 

"She…the crash had a major impact on her head. She can't remember anything past the time she was sixteen, except for whatever she did in college. Melanie doesn't know who we are," he explained to them, choking on the very last sentence.

Everyone's jaws dropped in disbelief as they realized that they'd lost a member of their team. All of those years they'd spent together were nothing. She was just a ghost of the team, no role anymore. Surely, she wouldn't want to rejoin them, how could she? They were part of the reason she'd gotten into this mess, not that she knew. 

Letty pushed into Leon's arms and cried softly- Melanie had been like another sister to her, and Jesse just looked at the ground and paled even more.

Vince recovered a little bit and started to push everyone out towards the hospital exit. "Come on, guys, she'll get it in her head that we're a team, and everything will get better, I know it will…let's just go home and let Mel rest for now…"

After the team had gone, Mia stopped Dominic and hugged him. He still looked like a stricken child. "Don't worry, Dominic. She loves you; she just doesn't know it yet. Remember- the mind may forget, but the heart doesn't. She'll come back to you."

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*sniffle* Melanie and Dom are over…or are they? Someone has a plot in mind for Melanie; now that she's become detached from the team…will this interfere with Dominic's efforts to regain his one true love?

Find out in…Chapter 8: The Art of Persuasion!


	9. The Art of Persuasion

Thanks for the reviews, peoples!

Chapter 8:

Dom gets some in The Art of Persuasion… 

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*Mia's POV*

I'd tried my best; I'd really done all that I could think of. Vince went in and out, each time closing the door and shaking his head. No one could get to Dominic. He wouldn't come out to eat, he just sat on his bed and stared at this old picture he kept of him and Melanie. It was the one where we'd gone to the beach, and someone just caught this sweet picture of them snuggling as if there was no one else in the world to care about. To Dom, I guess there really wasn't anyone left anymore. It was like he'd just isolated himself from everyone, and nothing could be said or done to fix my broken-hearted brother. 

Maybe I could tear that picture away from him and show it to Mel at school tomorrow. Maybe that could jog her memory…I'd have to try, for everyone's own sake, including mine. Mel was like a second sister to Letty and me, she was perfect for Vince and Leon, since she could be just as immature as either of them, and as for Jesse, they had all of these inside jokes and things together, she really was a sister to him.

But the most important thing would be to get her back to Dominic. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

*Natsuko's POV*

I walked into my journalism class to be greeted by a quiet classroom. All around Toretto's girl were people speaking in hushed whispers and watching Melanie's every move. I grinned as I thought of the crash that had occurred not too long ago. Poor dear, she'd lost all of her memory, just like that. 

I'd heard from some race whores that Dom wouldn't talk to anyone, that he was too hurt from losing his precious angel to amnesia. I laughed merrily on the inside as I put on a very practiced kind face and strolled up to Melanie, taking a quick glance at what she'd do as I sat down.

I'd expected some reaction, but I took in her shocked look as I pulled her into a hug and faked a couple of tears. "Oh, Mel, are you okay? I _just_ heard about the accident, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you when it happened. Are you alright?" I questioned.

Her look of shock mellowed out until she was smiling a goofy grin. She stroked her injured arm and said to me, "I'm sorry, but my memory isn't exactly what it used to be. Who are you again?"

I smiled sweetly before answering, and I pulled out some digitally altered pictures in which the two of us were seen 'hanging out' with some of my own friends. "Aw, you don't remember your best-friend, Natsu? Here, look. We went to the beach a little while ago, see? That's you, and there're Chris, Jade, Trinity, the whole gang really."

She peeked through the small pile of photos and shook her head. "No, sorry, I don't remember. Not yet, anyway. You seem like someone I'd be friends with, I'm sure the memories will all come flooding back in time." Her face split into a small smirk, and she got quiet as our teacher walked in.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

*Mel's POV*

I leaned in to hug Natsu as she finished her story in tears. "I can't believe that he'd do that to you, and pretend he loved me just so that he could…" I trailed off, not wanting to finish. 

Natsu had just told me about what Dominic Toretto and his 'team' had done to Johnny, Natsu's boyfriend. I was disgusted to think that Dom was so messed up that he'd pretend he was a friend just to get to me. He was sick.

Natsu sniffed as she continued, "I know…I'm so sorry this had to happen, but, he has always been 'in love' with you. Ha! What does he know about love when he took mine away? We should get him back, don't you think, Mel-chan?" She asked, looking curiously at me. I had to admit, whatever she was thinking was kind of interesting, and so I consented and listened to her plan. At first, she called in her own race team, Team Vengeance. I looked at all of the members, Trinity, Heather, Chris, Tempest, CiCi, and Lance, Johnny's cousin as they sat on the couch opposite the one Natsu and I were sharing, and paid attention.

"Dominic Toretto is 'in love' with our Melanie. However, he tries all of the stupidest ways to try and get her in his bed, and he doesn't come close to deserving our dearest friend, right?" Natsu waited as the rest nodded. She went on. "So it's clear that the best way to get our revenge is to play with him and tease him, isn't it?" Another round of nodding heads- no one ever defied Natsuneko Lee. "So here's what we do: first, we're all going to go to the races, but we won't actually race. We'll just watch. Then, we'll send Mel to Dom's house, and she _has_ to go alone- if we go, he'll know that something is up. Anyway, Mel, you'll start to cry and you'll pretend that you remember him, you know, the way he used to 'hold and make you feel _so_ wonderful.' When he takes you upstairs, don't let him take you. Play with him a little bit, then ask for a massage, and after a little while, pretend to fall asleep. Tease him, and then leave in the middle of the night. Then, never allow him to touch you again. How's that for a plan?" She stared at everyone for a response.

I thought for a moment, considering the plan. It could be dangerous, for sure. Dominic was a big, as in very strong and intimidating, man.

I raised my voice to state the problem. "What if he, you know, what if he gets upset? What if he…hits me? I don't want to get hurt, Natsu."

She gave an exasperated sigh and looked at me, a little annoyed. "Please, Mel. That idiot wouldn't raise a hand against you! Dominic Toretto wouldn't hit a woman, no matter how evil he is to his own sex. All you have to do is seduce him and then fall asleep. Will you do it?"

That was true, the last time I'd seen him (flipping out in the hospital) he was considerably sweet around his sister and that other girl. I gave in. "I'll do it."

I was in.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I sat on the hood of Chris's car at the races, uncomfortable with his constant staring in my direction. He was creepy. Jade was his girlfriend, but he kept trying to get close to me. I thought of the day I'd gone over with all of my things to live at Natsu's house, and Chris had come up to me immediately and started rubbing my back, and hugging me longer than was necessary. Natsu had calmly gone over to him and pushed him back, saying, "No, Chris, not yet…" It had bugged me the way she'd said it, but Natsu was my friend, she couldn't have meant anything sinister by it.

Now, as I sat trying to pull my ultra-short skirt to a somewhat more modest look, I turned to see what everyone was going 'ooh' and 'ah' about. It was a formation of five cars with a bright red Mazda RX-7 at the front. There was a decal on each car that had the letters DT on it. So this was the Toretto Team in action…

I saw Dom step out of the Mazda and hi five a short bald man, and then another even shorter black man. I walked up until I was standing a foot or so away from the trio. Waiting for Dom to catch me, to catch the bait. 

Just as I anticipated, he turned and saw me, and a mixture of surprise and pain came at me from his eyes. Rather amazing eyes, for that matter. 

I wrung my hands nervously as I watched him, acting, as though I was unsure of what to do. Finally, I walked away after giving him a sorry look. I think he was about to cry. I felt a jolt of hurt in my heart when I noticed how upset he was. Then, I threw my act into gear, freezing as thought I'd forgotten- or remembered- something.

I pressured tears into my eyes and turned to Dom, who was still following my retreating back. I took quick steps until I was at his side, my hand touching his caramel colored arm. He really did have perfect skin…

I looked into his eyes while I kept on 'crying'. "Dom…" I whimpered, begging for him to hold me. He wrapped his strong arms around me. I gasped at how safe I felt in them. 

"Melanie…you remember me now?" He whispered into my ear, leaving a tiny trail of soft kisses along my ear. 

"I missed you, Dommy…" It was a stretch, but maybe 'Dommy' might work even better. It did- he nuzzled into my neck, kissing as though he had the right to while he moved down. 

He actually acted as if he were in love with me.

I squeezed him as hard as I could and pulled back with a kittenish look in my eyes. "Can I be your trophy again, please?"

He laughed, a deep, gravelly, chortle as he held my hand and led me over to his own team. "You always were before, princess!"

Of course, when we got to his team's set of cars, the people were nowhere in sight, and so he leaned back against the RX 7. "I guess they all disappeared, huh, baby?" He was moving closer and closer, and he finally kissed me on the lips, probing for more as he kissed harder. 

After about 5 minutes of lip-action, he was pulled away by the bald, Latino man and went off to race, looking at me as he walked backwards. I laughed as he almost tripped over some girl's skanky boots. 

Another few minutes later, and he was swaggering back to me, eyes glinting. He'd won, and he showed off, handing a huge wad of money to his sister and swinging me up in the air, proclaiming, "My trophy…"

Giggling at being raised so high in the air, I kissed him on the cheek and then looked around for Team V, huddled in a dark corner of the block, watching my actions. 

Out of nowhere, a guy yelled about cops coming, and we ran for it, me swinging into the passenger seat of Dom's car.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the party, I snuggled into Dom's embrace as we sat enfolded into a comfortable armchair. He was playing around, kissing me here and there, obviously enjoying my skimpy outfit (which, for the record, I hated). I was wearing a short black miniskirt that exceeded all laws of matter and managed to cover and sow off my ass and thighs at the same time. My shirt was also black with a thin string going around my neck. In the back, only half of my back was covered. I was showing off more skin than I would have liked to, and the odd scar still showed in a few places, although it was well covered with makeup and such. 

In any case, the scars didn't keep Dominic from toying with my hair- moving it around and placing a peck at whatever he uncovered- and my skin, which he was tickling lightly. All in all, he was clearly overjoyed to be 'back' with me. I was having some fun as well, for that matter…

I checked the clock to see that it was almost 1 AM. I had to put my plan into action if I was going to get anything done, so I stood up and pulled him up with me. He smirked like he knew what was going to happen and murmured, "You wanna go upstairs, baby?"

Faking a grin, I replied, "Yeah, it's getting late. I think you should go up and give me a massage, Dominic…" I let his name flow from my mouth, emphasizing the hard 'C' at the end. A huge smile crossed his face and dazzled me, and he dragged me up the stairs behind him, pushing me into a bedroom at the end of the hall and shutting the door behind him.

"Wait right here, love, I'll go get the oil and stuff, okay?" He sounded so eager to be with me…

Nodding, I watched him go through a door to the bathroom and then I lay stomach down on the bed. He came over, spilling a few drops of floral smelling oil into his hands and sat next to me, kneading his hands into my back. I started to close my eyes when something caught the edge of my eye. 

_What did it mean? _I wondered as I allowed myself to fall asleep under the gentle pressure of Dom's hands. My mind fell blank at what I had seen, confused by all of the events of the previous few weeks, right up until what was happening now.

Before I gave into the unconsciousness of sleep, one thought crossed my mind.

Who am I, really?

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Dun Dun Dun!! Mel saw something and fell asleep! What did she see and why did it have such an impact on her? Find out in…Chapter 9! (Hehe, no one will know the name of the ninth episode! Muaha!)


	10. Waking Up

Oh no! Aw, LazySloth, I knew I forgot something!!!!!! Okay, Josie was in the last chapter, but she was…um…hiding in the shadows! *feels awful* 

Seriously though, I was going to call out your name for realizing what had gone wrong and all. *hangs head* Sorry!

Anyway, for everyone else who has reviewed, thank you so much, I really appreciate your comments, and so, I give you Chapter 9…

Waking Up 

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I laughed and tipped back what must have been my fifth beer for the night. Stupid Toretto, did he think that he could destroy me when he took Johnny? Now he'd learn…now he'd pay…

I was hanging around with Vengeance, all of us proud of the pain that was going to go down tomorrow morning. I loved this new arrangement, I was Melanie's 'loyal friend' and I'd do anything to spite her, and she'd just be trusting and naïve…I giggled again.

Down with the Toretto name. Without his precious Melanie, Dominic would just break down and hand the streets over to me…I'd have everything…almost.

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_Yelling…he was yelling for me to hang back…_

_Dominic…trucks…_

_No, the gun- VINCE, HE HAS A GUN!_

_Italy…home…_

_The car, oh God, no…don't, TRINITY!!! _

I woke up, cold sweat dripping down my face, my shoulders…I gasped and dropped my head into hands, trying to keep it from spinning out of control. Memories, they were all flooding back in a violent torrent that wouldn't stop for fifteen minutes. I moaned as I realized what I'd done, who I'd listened to.

I looked to Dominic, lying quietly beside me. He was so innocent when he slept, like his horrible luck in life didn't bother him. He was perfect and peaceful when his eyes closed and he fell into slumber. I loved him so much…

I gasped again as my heart jerked in confusion and tears cascaded from my eyes. I had to wake him up, I had to tell him everything..._Trinity was driving…_

I brought my gaze back to Dom, and saw him raise his upper lip in a sleepy smile and whisper my name, but right then, his eyes became squeezed tight, as if he was having a bad dream. I leaned down to kiss him softly on his forehead and he relaxed a little bit. I had to wake him up and tell him what I'd meant to do to him. 

I moved my hand to shake him gently, and once again, it caught my eye. That photograph of Dom and me when we were sitting together, just happy to be in each other's presence. That was what had done it. That's what had reminded me of him.

"Dominic…wake up, please, wake up," I whispered, rubbing his arm insistently. He yawned and opened an eye halfway and looked up at me dreamily.

"Morning, beautiful," he said, reaching out to kiss me. I pulled back and he withdrew a little bit, hurt written all over his half-awake features.

"Dom, I remember."

"What do you mean? You told me that yesterday. That's why you let me take you upstairs…you fell asleep, though," he smiled sadly at the last part.

"Natsu Lee came to me after I got out of the hospital and said we'd been friends, she showed me some digitally altered pictures of us hanging out. I didn't remember anything about her, but I went along with it. Anyway, she old me about how you'd 'wronged' her, and she asked me to help her get revenge…" 

"So you come here, act like you're in love with me again, then disappear in the middle of the night while I'm still sleeping?" He finished, looking down at the plain white sheets on his bed. On our bed.

I looked away while I answered him. I'd been so terribly wrong about everything, if only I could fix it all. "Basically. Dominic, I remember everything though, when I saw that picture of us, our past came back into my mind. I love you, Dom, you have to believe me," I pleaded, staring down at him.

He lay there watching me, not moving a muscle except for his eyes darting from me to the old picture, wondering which path he should take. Should he continue to mourn the past, or accept what happened and take me back? 

"I love you, too, Melanie, I don't want to be without you…but…I need you to prove that you're for real this time."

"I'd do anything."

"Two things." He placed his hand over mine.

"Okay. What do you want?" 

"First, answer this: What were we supposed to talk about after we left your parents' place?"

"Easy. Getting married," I smiled, leaning down to kiss his cheek. One task down, one to go.

"That's right", he whispered, rewarding me with another kiss. "Now for the hard part. You have to kiss me and make me believe you're in love with me. It has to feel like it always has. Fireworks and explosions."

"That's not so hard…"

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pushed my mouth onto his. I'd missed him so much…we kissed as though we'd been separated for years –not days- getting carried away in the fact that what had once been was taking place again- we were back in the clouds, flying free above all of the bullshit in our lives.

Finally, I pulled back, slightly breathless, and lay back into his arms, staring up at his penetrating eyes. 

"I think that was an atom bomb compared to all of the other explosions, Dom," I whispered, giggling a little as I ran my fingers up and down his chest and getting laughter back in response.

"Mmm…yeah…we should do it again, huh?" He replied, still chuckling a little over the movement of my fingers. He was ticklish right on his stomach…

"Of course we should, Dom…" I pulled my head back up and started to kiss him again. He wrapped his arms around my waist and returned every kiss I gave him. 

Oh damn, I was supposed to tell Dom about Trinity trying to kill me, wasn't I? I pushed him off of me (with much grumbling and frustration from both of us) and sat back.

"D, I forgot to tell you something else…"

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Help! I'm not as evil as I thought I was. If anyone can help me out with revenge on Team V, send me an e-mail; don't post your advice as a review (don't want to give it away). Thanks in advance to whoever helps!

By the way, what did you think of this chapter? I'd love to know…


	11. Mission Imposible

Ah, quick change from the last chapter: Melanie does not know who Team Vengeance is. The people that were Natsu's friends were just regular, random people that Melanie was also 'friends' with. No one knows who Team Vengeance is…yet…

Note: This chapter is dedicated to CiCi, who helped me out of the writer's block by giving me the inspiration for this chapter, and for FallenAngel, who kept reminding me to write more! Thanks a lot!

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*Jesse's POV*

When I saw Melanie appear at the races, I knew something was fishy about it right away. Melanie was acting too smooth to be herself. She was playing sex-goddess when in reality we all knew that she'd only known two men (her first being an accident), and was, therefore, not exactly the kind of girl who would flaunt her long legs and curvy body. Dom didn't notice anything strange though; he just took her in as she fell into his arms, kissing him and hugging him like there was not tomorrow.

She was still my friend though, no matter the games that she was running, and I hugged her and welcomed her back like the others, making sure that she'd caught my eye and realized that I wanted to talk later. My suspicions grew when she just turned away from me, without a single nod or reaction to my stare. Something was definitely wrong.

I walked over to where Kat was hanging out by my old Jetta and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "You cold, Kat?"

She snuggled up to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and answered, "Not anymore, Jess…"

I grinned and hugged her back. Over the time that Melanie was gone, Dom wasn't in much of a racing mood, and neither were the others, so I had a lot of spare time that I spent on Kat. We'd only gone out a couple of times, and that was with the whole group, never on a date. I couldn't wait to ask her out for real. Tonight would be the night, and who knew what would happen from there? I grinned even wider at the thought.

***

At the party, Mel had disappeared somewhere with Dominic, not really helping my growing suspicions. In any case, I followed a wisp of black and purple hair, indicating that Kat had gone off into the kitchen.

As the door swung shut behind me, I watched as she pulled two Coronas out of the fridge. She was wearing a purple tube top with black leather pants that had two purple stripes running up the front of them. She looked at me expectantly, knowing that I had something to say.

"What are you doing this Saturday? At night, I mean." I asked casually. It didn't matter if the beautiful out-of-my-league woman in front of me rejected me…

"Nothing, actually. Why? Did you want to go out or something?" 

"Well, yeah, I did. I was going to ask you out…um…you wanna go out with me on Saturday?" This wasn't going how I'd planned it- the element of suaveness was nowhere in sight. Oh well.

"Of course I do! Where would we go?" 

"Oh, okay then...I guess I'll see you arou- what? Wait a minute- you just agreed to go on a date with me," I blushed at my mistake- I thought she'd say no. "We can go to Santucci's, and then go see a movie. How's that?"

She grinned and replied, "No, we have to go to that expensive French place, and I think we should go to see an opera rather than some old movie. Movies are so blah… the opera is _much_ nicer."

I think that bullet a couple years back would've done me good if I'd known what I was facing.

Kat laughed at the expression of shock on my face and threw her arms around my neck. "Aw, Jesse! Cheer up I was just joking! Yuck…opera…could you stand being around all of those snooty rich people? Santucci's is great, and afterwards, we should see 2Fast 2Furious, okay?"

"Sounds perfect to me," I mumbled, hugging her back.

 ***Saturday Night***

Leon was so interested in my going out with Kat that he barged into my room at five, THREE HOURS BEFORE THE DATE. He started emptying out the contents of my closet and asking me what I thought I was going to wear.

"Leon, hold up."

He pulled his head out of my closet, and there was one of my old work shirts lying on top of his head, messing up his hair. He grinned like an idiot. "What's up, man? Why aren't you getting dressed, or taking a shower or something? You'll have to go soon!!"

"Dude, you're worse than Mia! Now get the hell out of here, the date's at eight, three hours from now! Why are you so excited about this? Almost everyone's excited, except for Mel and Dom up there…you think they realize that it's almost going to be night time again and they haven't left their bedroom?"

Leon shook his head, causing the shirt to be tossed away. "Naw man, I don't think they even realize that the sun's been up yet…and why do you think we're excited? This is the first time we've ever seen you so serious about a girl! This chick has you wound up around her little finger!"

I shrugged off that last comment. "She does not, and I'm not _that _serious about her. I mean, just because she's smart, funny and beautiful doesn't mean that I'm crazy about her. She's just different than all of the other girls I've been with."

"Jesse loves Kat." He stated simply. I swear, sometime she could be just like a child.

"No, Jesse does not."

 "Jesse loves Kat, Jesse loves Kat!" The crazy guy started running around my room, chanting over and over "Jesse loves Kat".

"Leon, don't you have something better to do than run around my room and sing? Where's Letty? Isn't it time for your nap or something?" I quipped, opening the door so that he could leave. He stuck his tongue out and ran off somewhere, still shouting out that damn tune.

***

I should have listened to Leon- I parked at the steps leading to Kat's house at 8:15. Not a good start to a date. Nervously, I climbed the six steps total to her door. I tugged at the bottom of my black button-up shirt (a reaction that I often got when I was freaked out) and looked around at the dark, dreary house before me. The weeds definitely needed some taming, and the windows would most likely appreciate getting acquainted with a soapy cloth. _Okay, _I thought to myself, _Kat's house looks like a reject from a horror movie._ I turned my head to a sound coming from behind me and saw a black flash of a cat's tail disappear behind a bush that was crawling over a _Beware of Dog_ sign. Now I was really freaked out.

I knocked on the door, and let my eyes follow a few falling chips of paint to the ground. The house was probably empty; Kat had probably given me some fake address or something. It looked as if no one had stepped foot on this property for a long time. After a few more silent minutes, I knocked again and noticed that there weren't any lights on. Yep, definitely a fake address. I turned and started to walk down the path towards my car again when I heard the buzz of lights flicking on behind me, as well as the sound of a squeaky door opening up with its hinges groaning. I turned to face Kat and found myself face-to-chest with a tall, dark man who could probably almost give Dom or Vince a run for their money. Almost. 

"Who the hell are you?" he rumbled angrily. Talk about beware of dog…

I took a step back to inspect Mr. Steroid and was not pleased with what I saw. His skin was half a shade lighter than Dom's, and he was looking particularly shady in black pants and a white beater. I gulped as I noticed the bulging muscles underneath his shirt, somewhere close to the size of Mia's thighs, and then stared down at where his shirt was pressed up against a neatly cut-six pack. I was in big trouble if I didn't answer him soon.

Holding my head up high, I answered, "I- I'm Jesse. Is K-Kat home?" Very brave and tough sounding, in my opinion.

"Yeah, she is. Why do you ask?"

"We're supposed to go out. Tonight," I swallowed before I continued, "Together."

"Who do you work for?" He grumbled on, seemingly unaware of my last comment.

"What?"

"You got a job?"

"Yeah."

"Then who's your boss?"

This wasn't the best time to ask why he was asking, and I was still scared beyond belief of this guy, so I answered, "Dominic Toretto" in hopes that he'd back off. No one messed with Dom's team unless they were suicidal.

"Who the hell is that? What do you do for a living, kid?" Damn.

"I'm a mechanic. Look, is Kat coming or not?"

The man's nostril's flared and he looked like he was going to tear me apart. "She ain't comin' down here if you don't answer my questions, understand me?"

I sighed and mumbled, "Yeah, I understand…"

"Good. Now, how old are you?"

"Um. Almost 22. Who are you again?"

"I'm asking the questions!!" Gotta remember the Beware of Dog thing…

I heard the clunk of footsteps coming down the stairs followed by the call of, "Paxton? Who are you talking to? Is Jesse here yet?" I whispered a tiny prayer to whoever had saved me from 'Paxton'.

Kat appeared, dressed in a casual black skirt and a black tube top that had an angel wings design across the top. Her hair was up in a clip and two purple-streaked strands hung down, framing her face. Paxton backed away from me and looked at Kat with the same disapproving look Dom got whenever Mia wore something to revealing. I goggled for a second as Kat's skirt teased me, forgetting the big man in the room.

"Jess?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Kat! Ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me grab my bag. This is my big brother, Paxton. He's been living with me after he left our old home in Miami. Have you two gotten along?" Kat chattered on as she grabbed a small black pocketbook and slung it over her shoulder. I glanced at Paxton.

"Yeah, we've been getting along great, haven't we, Pax?" I grinned at him. If he beat me up now, he'd have to answer to the most dangerous thing in the whole world: his little sister. I was safe!

I waved goodbye to Paxton and led Kat out to my freshly washed Jetta, opening the door for her as she stepped past me. Mission one: accomplished.


	12. Damn That Fork

Hey all! I'm back! This is part 2 of Chapter 10! 

MI2: Mission Impossible 2

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The ride to Santucci's was great; we never should have left the car. Trouble sparked up the second we walked in there. At first, the woman who stood with the reservations book cast us the evil eye. She obviously didn't like young people, seeing as she was probably in her forties and was already a friend of Botox.

When we walked up to ask about our reservation, she looked through the list and said, flatly, "No, you're not in here. Sorry."

"What do you mean we're not in there? I called last night! Jesse Lindberg, for 8:30! It has to be there!"

She stared at me for a moment and looked back at the book like I was a moron. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lindberg, but we just don't have your name here. Would you like me to check if there's an extra table for two available?"

I sighed and nodded, looking over to Kat who was waiting patiently, a smile playing on her lips. 

Soon, the lady came back quite triumphantly and said, "It's your lucky night! There's an extra table right by the window!" She pointed happily to a small table by a window, lit up by a candle. It was about three feet away from a large table filled with a loud family. Great. Just great. I shrugged, taking Kat by the hand and walked over to our little table, pulling the seat out for her as she sat down. 'Be a gentleman,' Leon's words echoed in my head.

After looking at out menus, I waved the waiter over and started to order. "Okay, we'll start off with calamari, then she'll have a galad with streens…I mean, a salad with greens." Shit, I was acting up again. "Right, and I'll have the lasagna. And we'll have wed rine to drink." I blushed a deep crimson at my mistakes. "Red wine. We'll have red wine to drink."

The waiter just rolled his eyes as he took our menus and walked away. Kat giggled a little bit and waited for me to calm down before we started to talk.

I apologized firsthand for that latest incident. "Sorry about that, Kat…it's just…I got a little nervous, and…"

She smiled warmly and squeezed my hand. "Don't worry about it. It was actually sort of cute. Just forget it happened okay? It's nothing major." 

I grinned and began a conversation with my girl, I mean, my date. 

"So, you're from Miami?" I asked.

"Yeah, basically. Um, I sort of ran into problems there, so I just decided to move out here. My brother came with me."

"You ran into problems so big that you had to move across the country?"

Pain sort of shot across her face and she bowed her head. "Yeah. Things got really screwed up." She paused for a second. "So, what did you talk about with my brother?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Who I was, what I did for a living... you know, regular interrogation process," I smiled at her; making light of the weird situation I'd just been in.

"Oh my God, really? He asked you all of that stuff? I'm so sorry, Jess, Pax still sees me as a little girl. He just wants to protect me. I'll talk to him when I get home, though, I promise."

"Oh, it's cool. You don't think I've seen the same thing happen with Dominic and Mia? Hell, he's chased away more guys than he's dated girls! Brian's probably the only guy who's slipped through!"

We laughed and talked some more while we waited for our meal to arrive. I wasn't that nervous anymore until the food came. As the waiter placed my plate of lasagna down, I thought of what might happen if some of the cheese got stuck in my teeth. Or what would happen if my breath were bad. Did I have mints?

All of a sudden, I was freaked out again. She wouldn't kiss me if there were cheese stuck in my teeth, or if my breath were bad. 

Apprehensively, I picked up my fork, glancing at Kat who had already started on her salad. Of course, with all of my worries about bad breath and kissing, my hands had gotten sweaty, and the fork tumbled out of my hand down to the dark blue carpet below. It kind of reminded me of a man falling off of a cliff as it went. Still, the man's fate wasn't as bad as mine. He wasn't doomed to spend an entire evening making a fool out of himself in front of a beautiful girl.

My cheeks burned as I bent to pick up the glinting silver fork. The second my hand touched the object, I heard a groan coming from my chair and I felt it crash down beside me as I toppled to the ground. So much for a bad date, this was the night from hell.

Gasps escaped the mouths of the people around me, and a waiter moved to help me up. I brushed him aside and picked the chair-traitor- up and sat down, causing the damn thing to emit one more creak, and buried my head in my hands, avoiding Kat's gaze as well as everyone else's. Not only had I embarrassed myself by dropping the fork, _I had actually fallen out of my chair!!_ Damn. To make matters worse, that big family that was sitting near us erupted into laughter. 

Sighing, I reached for the damn fork that had been the cause of everything and caught air. I looked down to see a mockingly shiny eating utensil blinking up at me from the ground. Double damn. Cursing it with every word in every language I could think of, I stood, bent over, and picked it up, only to be bumped into by a passing waitress.

I sat back down.

I took a bite of my dinner, which had remained hot during the whole fiasco, causing my mouth to burn.  

And I let out an angry breath. We wouldn't be ordering desert here.

I peered at Kat sheepishly and saw that she was laughing out loud. She thought it was funny.

"What?" I asked.

"You…" she choked on her laughter, "You just fell over!!! And all you wanted was a fork, and it wasn't there when you sat down again!! You look so upset; it's priceless!! Honey, you're bright red! This is the best date I've ever been on!!"

"This is the best date you've ever been on?!" I was shocked. 

"Yeah!" She grinned, "You're just so cute!"

All I could do was shake my head.

***Kat's POV***

After dinner, Jesse and I walked to the movie theater, which was pretty close to Santucci's. I smiled inwardly as he reached over cautiously and took my hand. He was agitated, I could tell, by what had happened at dinner. I moved closer to him as we got into line for tickets and gave him a quick squeeze. He beamed as he handed over the money for the tickets, popcorn, and soda. He was about to buy the whole concession stand for us before I pulled him away. "Come on sweetie, the movie's about to start…" I giggled. He was so thoughtful.

***

About halfway through the movie, Jesse had gotten his arm around my shoulders and I had my head resting on his shoulder. Frankly, 2Fast 2Furious wasn't worth much except for the car scenes, so during the dialogue, Jesse turned his head and bent over to kiss me. I was kind of surprised; actually- he was a really good kisser. I wanted to go further, but full making out during a date seemed a little too slutty for my tastes. He tried to kiss harder, but I pushed him back and shook my head. He shrugged and went back to watching the movie, and I'd have tackled him with a hug right there if we hadn't been in a theater. This was the first guy who hadn't pushed me to doing something I had no intention of doing. Jesse was so sweet, not like Damian. I shuddered at the thought of his name and snuggled into Jesse's chest. Things would be better here in LA, now that I had Jesse to watch over me…

***Jesse's POV***

On the way home, I kept peeking over to look at Kat. The ride home was silent except for a few comments about the movie. It's not that we didn't have anything to say to each other, we were both simply tired and enjoying the peaceful quiet that had taken over. 

When we reached her creepy old house, I noticed that the lights were on and there was the glow of a television screen coming from one of the windows. I walked Kat up to the porch and gave her a hug goodbye.

"Kat, look, I know tonight was a total fluke, but, do you think we could maybe go out again sometime? I promise I'll bring my own fork, that way, if the first one falls I can just grab another out of my pocket!"

She giggled and nodded her head. "Yeah Jess, that sounds fine to me. I had a really great time with you tonight; it was definitely exciting. I can't wait to see you again!"

She kissed my cheek and went inside, leaving me alone to do a little 'Oh, yeah, I got some' dance in front of the door.

All the way home, I thought about where we would go the next time. I made a dash past all the curious faces in the living room and shut the door to my room, exhausted by the night's events.

I started to think of all of the things that could have happened if only I hadn't been so clumsy. Then, as I drifted off to sleep, I figured, _what the hell, she had a great time. Maybe I'm not as useless as I think._ Kat was the girl of my dreams that night.

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Heehee, enter Jesse's girlfriend! Just so that you know, Melanie and Dominic's problems will be coming back; I just wanted to throw in some time for Jesse, since I haven't really focused on him lately. Hope you liked it! ;-)

~*Mel*~

P.S. I just bought that 'Tricked Out' edition of TFATF. Where are the deleted scenes?!?!? I can't find them in the bonus features *sob* Please help, if anyone else has the DVD- thanks!


	13. The Skyline Will Have To Wait

*Mel's POV*

"Dominic, you have to stop, we're leaving in two hours and we both have to get ready!" I tried to push Dominic off of me while he was trying to make a move by kissing my collarbone. He only snickered and carried on, nonplussed by attempts to reject him. I'd been nice all week, since I'd missed his touch and kisses so much… that morning that I woke up with all of my memories intact, the only thing I could really think of was that Dom and I hadn't seen each other in so long… I missed it. 

"You weren't complaining yesterday…how's today different?" He asked looking at me with his eyes full of mock curiosity and innocence. 

"Well, the difference is that I didn't have to get dressed to go anywhere yesterday. All we did was have dinner and watch a movie with the team."

Dom growled in a low baritone and whispered into my ear, "You most certainly didn't have to get dressed…"

I sighed and pushed him off. "You're cute Romeo…but not that cute…go on, get dressed in Jesse's room, he's not here tonight."

"What do you mean he's not here? Where is he? And why can't I change in here?"

"He went out with Kat, he's going to meet us by the shop so that we can still do the formation thing. You can't change in here because I'll be changing, and you're going to be breathing down my neck to finish up quickly. Besides, Letty and Mia are going to be in here too since we always borrow each other's makeup."

"Ew."

"What?" 

"Letty naked…I've known her for so long it'd be like Vince giving me a lap dance."

"Mental picture, Dominic!!!! Get out before I think of anything else you and Vince could be doing together!"

"You're nasty, you know that?"

I glared at him (the glare that Letty taught me to use around the guys when they were being annoying) and threw a pillow at his head. "OUT!!"

Dom held his hands up in defeat and backed out of the room, only to return a half of a second later. He grinned sheepishly. "Forgot my clothes…"

I watched him until he was out and had closed the door behind him, chuckling a little bit at his actions. Turning around, I moved to the closet so that I could pick out my outfit for the night. I'd been considering my tight black jeans with red and orange flames riding up around the bottom and a chain dangling along my side, along with a black halter-top that showed off just a little bit of my stomach, mainly as something to go along with the new paint job and decals that I'd just given my latest car, a rescued Skyline. I rummaged around the small space that was occupied mostly with my things and pulled my pants out. As I reached for the shirt, I caught the sight of a purple sleeve hanging out of my wardrobe. _Oh shit!_ I'd forgotten to tell Dom about Kat's brother.

Running to the door, I realized that I was still in my underwear and Dominic's old work shirt. I slipped on the jeans and made a mad dash to Jesse's room once again.

"Hey Dom, I completely forgot to tell you that…oh my." I'd walked in on Dominic. Dominic was wearing boxers and nothing more, and he looked up at me when I came in with a real innocent look in his eyes.

"You have to stop doing that, Dominic."

"Doing what?" he asked with a look of curiosity striking his sweet features.

"Showing off your body. How do you expect me to keep my hands off of you?" I grinned at him as I trailed my eyes down his rippling chest, all the way down to his rock hard abs.

He prowled over and grabbed hold of my waist, pulling me closer to him. "Why'd you come here if you didn't want me, princess?" he growled. 

"Oh, that's right! I almost forgot _again_, thanks for reminding me, Dommy!" Dom dropped his hands and started to curse in Italian while I continued, "Kat called a little earlier and told me that her older brother would be coming with us. His name's Paxton, and from what I've heard, he could be as strong as you."

"'Kay, I guess we'll meet him later, and I'll see just how strong he is!"

I waved my finger at him in warning as I walked out of the room, "Be nice!"

***

One hour later, the guys were yelling for Mia, Letty, and me to come down while we were still putting on makeup. I had my hair down and straightened, the red streaks in my hair standing out amongst the natural chocolate color I was born with. I was pretty much finished; I was just waiting for Mia and Letty to finish up (and being a pain in the ass to the group of impatient men below). Letty was wearing black leather pants and a deep red shirt that showed almost as much cleavage as it did stomach. Her hair was flowing down in the usual dark cascades. Leon would once again be fighting his wife's admirers off with a stick. Finally, Mia had on a pair of tight jeans with a gold chain belt and a brown shirt that matched the sandy tint on the jeans. Letty slipped her wedding ring back on as we all walked down the stairs.

As always, we bumped into appreciative whistles and catcalls from the so-called men of the house.

"Alright, alright! Guys, I _know_ you like to see me, but it's so rude to whistle like that for me! What about Let and Mia?" I asked, letting Dom pull me closer to him.

We went into our cars, Letty calling from a few feet away, "Yeah, Mel, you _think_ they were cheering for you, don't ya?"

I flipped her off in a loving, sisterly, and sincere manner while I called for everyone's attention.

"Hey! You guys remember that piece of tin shit I was working on in DT?" I meandered over to a car that was covered with a white cloth.

"Wait, don't tell me…you oiled the hinges?" Vince guffawed, causing a few more laughs to erupt among the group.

"That's funny, V, but I did a little more than oil the hinges. Look!" I pulled off the cover in a flourish and revealed my brand new Skyline, fully souped-up and ready to go.

I watched the faces drop and noticed Dom wandering over to see my latest best friend. "Okay, guys, quit drooling and let's go! I want to see everyone else's face when they see my baby!"

***

We drove up to the shop, flooding three figures with light. The first two were familiar- Kat and Jess, and the other was completely foreign, probably Paxton.

The team got out to start the introductions and plan out the night's activities.

"Hey guys, this is my big brother, Paxton Romeo Lopez. Pax, this is the team. Dom, Melanie, Letty, Leon, Mia, Brian, and Vince."

Beside me, I heard Letty mutter, "¡El Oh mi dios, ese hombre es tan fino!"

"You're a married woman!" I whispered back.

"You're telling me that he's not gorgeous?" she asked. 

"Good point," I replied, as Dom went up to Paxton and started talking. 

"What's up Pax? How come I've never seen you around here?" He asked.

"I usually just keep to myself… I don't really know anyone here," Pax answered, looking at the ground.

Letty joined into the conversation, saying, "Pax? They should call you Pecks, look at you!"

Mia laughed from her spot, standing next to Brian.

Dom looked upset as he faced Letty. "Why won't you call _me_ Pecks? I got muscles!"

"Is your name Paxton? Would it be witty if we called you 'Pecks' for no reason?" I questioned, following Letty's lead.

"No…" Dom mumbled.

"Point taken?" I asked again.

"Yes…"

"Good. All right guys, let's go before we miss the races entirely! Come on, we've got bills to pay!" I called out, herding everyone into his or her vehicle.

***

It was like parting the seas when we drove in with two extra cars at the rear. Everyone into street racing knew we were formidable, and Kat and Pax just made us look even more so. 

The same routine ensued, Dominic stepping out of his RX-7 as though he were God's gift to cars, then us following, usually to chase off the skanks that attached themselves to Dom's arms like leeches. This time, however, he did something completely unexpected. He brushed them off without a word from anyone on the team and doubled back to where I was standing, throwing a sinewy arm around my waist.

"You look too hot in that outfit… how about I cool you down?" He whispered.

"Dominic, look! You race, you rock, you win! All of those cars, dying for an opponent… remember that?" I asked him, indicating the mob around us, full of kids from every walk of life. "Dom, you've still got a race to win, you know that. Go on, Dommy, do your thing, then let me do mine, and we'll both be very happy at the end of the night, I promise." I hugged him tight and left a kiss lingering on his cheek.

Dom pulled back for a second. "Wait, you didn't tell me you wanted to go tonight. Are you racing?"

"Yeah, I was hoping I could, since I just finished off that Skyline."

"About that…"

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to tell you that I thought you did a really nice job putting it together. It looks great, Melanie."

"Thank you, Dom! Oh…and thanks for taking me in all those years back when I was still a newbie. I owe you," I replied, blushing. I wasn't exactly used to compliments, or at least I didn't respond to them well.

"Aiight, come on, we'll talk to Hector and put you in," he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards Hector's crew. "Oh, and I want to talk to later, okay? It's important."

I nodded, "Of course." Not to jump to conclusions, but I think I heard wedding bells…

***

After putting in my $2,000, I wandered off to join Mia, Letty, and Kat, huddled together and talking about none other than the 'men' in their life.

"Ha! They call themselves men, they're just boys!" Kat said with a dry laugh.

"Oh, I know," Mia chirped, "the other day when I went to ask one of them to help me with the dishes, I caught them playing some old video game."

"But they always do that Mi. It's childish, but then again we play too," I offered.

"They were wearing old t-shirts! Brian had a shirt with the Superman symbol on it! I was so close to asking them if they'd finished their homework!"

"Oh, that's nothing Mia! The other day when I went to ask Leon to make the bed for me, he folded his arms across the chest and shook his head. He looked like he was gonna have a temper-tantrum!"

We chortled as Leon passed by us, giving us an odd look.

"Yeah, okay, you think _those_ are bad! You know how little kids poke you non-stop if they want something? Dom wanted something! I told him he'd get a time-out! His face was so funny when I said that!"

Letty choked out, "I bet they'd all prefer spanking!"

I backed away from her and (tried) to look her in the face solemnly. "Leticia Santos, what you do in your own room is your business. Believe me when I say I don't want to hear about what you and Leon do when you're alone, girl!"

We all busted out laughing at that, getting even more odd looks from people around us. I turned my head to the side and a man standing by a gold Honda Civic caught my eye. He was just standing there watching us. I motioned for the other girls to quiet down and we all looked casually in his direction, only to see him being swallowed up by a group of seven girls and one more man, all of whom were just a bit dangerous-looking. These weren't just the usual race whores, these women actually looked… capable of thought, not to mention the well-built men they surrounded.

"They're probably a new team…" Kat thought out loud, following them with her eyes as the first man moved to where Dominic was standing.

From where I was sitting, I noticed something in Dominic tense up and he turned around, meeting the stranger face to face. I moved to go to Dom, with the others behind me.

"Look, man, I can't do that, my girl's racing and we're going to be done for the night. Come back next week," Dom was already arguing with the newcomer, a bad sign for the latter.

"Are you afraid of me?" Everyone who heard that must've broken a rib at this guys' boldness. Everyone was afraid of Dom; Dom was afraid of no one, according to the streets.

"Am I afraid of you? What, do you do drugs too? I'm, sorry, kid, but I don't race no druggies. Why should I be afraid of you?"

"My car might be faster." 

"It's not how fast your car is, it's the skill of the person in it, son." The crowd that had now gathered was nodding at Dominic's wisdom. If anything, a fight would break out between the two and they'd get their free entertainment.

"Then I have more skill than you." Shouts of "Idiot!" and "Asswipe!" were heard through the crowd.

"I can tell just by looking at you, you don't. Look, I told you that I'd race you, but not tonight. Now I'm not sure if you're even worthy of taking me on. Just keep talking and you're gone."

"I want a race now, Toretto."

Dom opened his mouth to speak, but I stepped in before him. "You've got balls kid. What do you say, Dom? I'll pass up the Skyline's introduction if you take this loser on and show him how a real racer does it." Dom grinned at me in approval. "Does everyone agree on the new terms? Good. I guess you two should place a number on the buy-in. I'll wait right here so that I hear what you're putting down. Besides, of course," I glanced at Mr. Newbie, "your dignity. What did you say your name was?"

"It's Chris. That's all you need to know now."

I raised my eyebrows at him, questioning his rude behavior and passed back into the crowd, pushing my way through to Mia and the others, who had already grabbed spots right by the starting point.

Dom pulled up right next to where his supporters were standing, giving me a grin before turning away to boost up his CD's. Before he turned back, I was standing by his side, leaning in through the window.

"Come to wish me good luck, Mel?"

I laughed, "You don't need luck, Dominic Toretto. I came to give you a kiss and show my support. All of that lovely crap."

He smirked as I kissed his cheek lightly and went back to the group while Chris pulled up in a green Ford GT90, oblivious to the taunting crowd around him. All eyes were on Hector as he stood at the head of the roaring machines, and those same eyes followed his arms as they fell to his side, signaling for the cars to go.

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TBC

What do you think, peoples? I miss my lovely reviewers! lol


	14. 21 Questions and A Proposal

Foxyboxer- that is my all-time favorite scene in the movie! Hehehe

FallenAngel- Very easily, actually. Just took a lil hotwiring :-P. As for the people and Kat…you'll see…

DomLetty4Eva- Yeah, yeah, it would ruin Dom's rep. Blah blah blah, his ego will deflate ;-)

Ally- Yes, thank you, thank you :-D You know you're the second person that I actually know to have reviewed? It's just you and Kat (the other one doesn't…er…_care_, per se, but w/e)

To everyone else: I spoil you peoples! The last chapter was 5 pages, and this one is 4, as opposed to the other 2-3 page chapters! Enjoy!

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My RX-7 sped ahead of Chris's GT90, brandishing it's well-known speed. From the corner of my eye, I could see some of my previous opponents shake their heads at what would soon be another win on my part. I was surrounded by this monotony, week in, week out, some new chump would try and take my throne, and I would leave him to eat his words in my dust.  

Chris sped up and tried to pull in front of me. _Not today, kid_. I hit the gas even harder and moved up even more, just as Chris made a move for what was obviously a NOS button. _Too soon…_ I grinned to myself; this was too easy. I waited for him to pass ahead, waited to make my own move.

He wasn't in front of me. I chanced a look back at him and saw him behind me, furiously trying to stay on my tail. What was he doing? I swerved to the right, making a sharp turn in order to sway him and put myself in a better position to reach the finish line. I made a split decision to hit my NOS- the end was coming up too quickly, and I couldn't just wait for this kid to do something. I zoomed ahead, the sound of the nitrous covering the sound of the blaring music flowing from my stereo. It was at that exact second that Chris used his NOS, causing him to appear to the left of me. We were side by side, and then he pulled ahead of me. I nosed my way past him, only to have him speed up so that we were bumper and bumper. The avid racers ahead of us were cheering at a deafening rate, and the blood was pumping inside me now, coursing through my veins and pulsing behind my ears. 

We passed the finish line at exactly the same time. I saw Chris slam his head against his wheel- he had clearly planned on beating me. Then again, I had done the same, the only difference being that I was supposed to be the winner. I stepped out of my car and headed over to Hector. 

"Damn, I've never seen anyone get that close to you, Dom. Well, except for my favorite snowman over there" he said, indicating Brian.

"Yeah, but Chris and I tied, that's closer than Brian ever got. What do we do with the money? Split it?"

Hector nodded, handing me my $4, 000, and my team, among other admirers, swept around me. 

"Man, my heart was pounding over there. Almost thought he had you!" Vince laughed, hitting me on the back. 

"Yeah, yeah, V, you're so blind, can't you see that either I come out on top or else no one wins?" I chuckled in return, handing my money over to Mia who was hugging me tight. "My sister gets the money, of course…"

I felt two cool hands slip around my waist from behind, and I started to push them off, thinking it was someone else, when Mel's head popped up from behind my back. "Hmmm, Mia gets the money, and that leaves me with…" she trailed off, tiny stars lighting up in her eyes.

"You get me! How's that?" I asked, lifting her up in the air.

"Best that I can get," she whispered into my ear, pulling away from me and curling her fingers around my hand. She was looking in the direction of Chris, who was stomping over to us with his cheerleaders following. He stopped in front of her and glared into her happy face. I pushed in front of him and led my team to a dark corner on the street.

"He's a good racer," I stated bluntly, waiting for someone to do something about the comment I'd dropped before the team.

"You want him on the team?" Brian asked, perking up. If Chris joined us, Brian wouldn't be The Newbie anymore. He also wouldn't be the snowman. Chris seemed to be more of a suburbanite than Brian or even Melanie was. 

"He's already got a team," stated Leon.

"Yeah, what would we do about them?" Jesse questioned looking around at the rest of us.

"They're all women, right? They could bunk with me, I don't mind," Vince stated, licking his lips.

"Don't start with that Vince," Mel said, looking in his direction disdainfully. She looked up at me, "Are they in or not? You haven't picked anyone up for the team since you got Brian, and that was years ago. You're the head of the team, the decision's yours, Dom."

The others all nodded, and I glanced at Kat and Pax. "What about you? What do you think?"

Kat looked around to make sure I was talking to her before opening her mouth. "Um. Well, you could invite him over some time, and just talk about it. You can't decide what he does with his own team. As far as it goes though, do you have enough room for another person?" 

Pax looked at all of us and threw his own idea in. "If you guys really want that guy on your team, I guess he could stay with us, and his team could follow. We've got room for eight, and you could have one more live with you."

"That could work," Melanie mused, "Besides, they've probably got their own house to stay in. We might not even need to take those others in."

"So it's settled. Chris is on the team, except, first, Jess, I want you to try and find out all you can about this guy, okay?" I waited as the others agreed and moved back to crowded street. There weren't any cops after us tonight; they'd pretty much lost interest in our world. 

I pulled Mel back from walking away to the team. "No cops out for us tonight, huh?"

She shrugged. "If they're gone, they're gone. Who cares, when it's just less money for them and more for us?"

I grinned and hugged her from behind, placing a soft kiss on her shoulder. "You're right."

"So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Huh?"

"Remember? You said you wanted to talk to me about something important earlier. What's up?" She asked, turning to face me.

"Oh, that. I wanted to ask you something."

She tensed up and her eyes flashed. She tried to brush off a squeak that had entered her voice. "Really?"

"Would you…"

"Yes!"

"What?"

"Yes, I'll marry you, Dom! I love you!"

I took a second to think. Holy shit. She thought I was going to propose. How could she- Of course! I'd been dropping hints, telling her that we still had to have 'the talk' about marriage, and just the other night I'd asked her about kids. _Our_ kids. Shit, this isn't how I'd planned on proposing. I started to back my way out of this. 

"Baby…that's…that's not what I was going to ask you." I looked meekly into her eyes. _Please don't cry; please don't cry._

Tears sprang from her eyes. "You don't want to marry me?" 

I think I actually saw her break down inside. "No, I mean, yes, I do, but… look, if I were to propose, I wouldn't do it here. I'd do something really great, I promise."

She stared at me. _Not working, Toretto, she's still upset._

"Okay, I wanted to ask you something else, it was important to me, but I wasn't going to propose tonight," I paused to wipe her tears off with my thumb. "I love you so much, though."

She pushed my hands back and covered her eyes, groaning for a second and then quieting down. Her fingers spread a little bit, giving her a tiny view of me, and then she let her hands slip from her face completely. She offered me a weak smile. "Sorry about that. I… I don't know; you were talking about it more and more. I guess I got a little caught up. I didn't mean to put you in a tough spot."

I tugged at her elbow, inviting her into my arms, and kissed her nose lightly. "Don't be sorry, it's kind of my fault. When I really propose, it's going to be perfect."

She kissed my chin in return and mumbled, "I don't want perfect, I want you." 

"Thought I _was_ perfect," I smirked, nudging her gently.

She slapped my chest lightly and said, "You're so egotistical, Dom. Ask me what you wanted to ask me before and then let's go get Chris. I want to go home, I'm in desperate need of a massage."

"Oh please, that's Melanese for 'I want sex'. Not that I'm complaining."

"Ask now, or I'm gonna stop speaking Melanese."

"Fine." I stared at her seriously, bringing back a quiet atmosphere. "I was just wondering if you'd still love me if I wasn't Dominic Toretto, King of the Streets."

She didn't even think before she spoke.  "I'd love you no matter what, Dom." 

"If something bad happens in the future? Would you still want me?"

"Absolutely."  Another no-brainer.

"Do you believe in soul mates?"

She hesitated for a second, chewing on the latest question. "I do now."

"Are you mine?"

"I think that that's something you have to ask yourself," Melanie said, locking her hand around mine as I asked for it. "Am I?"

"Yes." I smiled, gazing back at her as I asked my last question. "Am I yours?"

She said something, but I couldn't hear it over the sudden sound of a team of street racers flying past us. 

"What? I didn't hear you," I shouted over the noise.

She shook her head from side to side and kissed my cheek. "I'll tell you later, when things get quieter," she said in my ear.

"Okay," I said, following her out into the busy street ahead of us. 

* * * * *

I sat, sipping a Corona, when I saw Mel and Dom walk out from the alley where we'd all been a little earlier. How the hell did he manage to keep her so happy? She so was devoted to him. All of the girls I'd ever actually been with had cheated on me or left me for dumb reasons. Before Melanie, Dom and I joked about that, about how we were the guys destined for lust, not love. Except, I'd always had it worse than him. Ever since we were teens, girls wanted me, but only so that they could get to him. I was Vince, Dom's right hand man. You had to fuck me so that you could get into bed with Dom. Sometimes, I wish that I was Dominic; I wish that I had all of the advantages, and then he was the one who had to catch up with _me_. 

When Dom and I were little, we told people that we were twins, but that whole thought process was gone by the time we were thirteen, when he shot up three inches and started building both muscles and a following of girls. Dominic the Golden Child, the-

"Hey bro, wanna go get a new team mate with me?"

I growled to Dom for hitting me on the back and replied, "Yeah man, I'm up for it."

I followed him to where we'd last seen that team and stopped when I noticed they were gone.

"Where'd they go?" he asked, turning back to me.

"I don't know, maybe if you hadn't been in the alley fucking your girlfriend we'd now," I snarled. So what if I was out of line? I didn't care that night.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? We were just talking!" He growled back.

"It means that ever since that chick came into your life, you've gone all soft. You're all about love and caring. Where'd my best friend go?"

"Take that back, it's not true," he said calmly. He was always like that now. Always quiet and calm, always thought shit through. "I still chill with you and the guys, I've just got a girl in my life now. It's not like I'm ditching you."

I shrugged and started to speak again when his cell phone rang.

***Phone Conversation***

"Hello?" said Dom when he flipped on his phone.

"Toretto?"

"Yeah, who's this?"

"It's Chris," said the voice on the other line.

"Hey man. Where'd you go? I wanted to know if you wanted to join my team," said Dominic, his voice becoming friendlier.

"We thought you'd be having a party, so we stopped at the house to change. We can talk about the team then. It'd be great if I could join you guys."

"Cool, we'll be there in about half an hour. See you then."

"Later, man."

***End Phone Conversation***

Dom flipped the top of his phone down and placed it back into his pocket. He glanced at Vince who had already wandered off to the other guys. _What's up with him?_ Dom wondered, following Vince to the rest of his team. If Vince were really pissed at him, then it would be a long ass night for sure.

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Hello, my lovely reviewers. I have an idea. I've started writing a little something extra to go with the end of this story as a treat for all of you. Here's the trick: I want to have 100 reviews on this story. 

Don't worry though! I'm not nearly finished ATV, I just wanted to give you all a little heads up- 40 reviews by the last chapter of ATV so that you can all get your hands on MBFFW (you won't find out what that means till it comes :-P). In any case, I promise you that it will be nice and sweet. :-D

Lot of love,

Mel

P.S. I know that the last bit with Dom and Mel sounded a little bit like 21 Questions by 50 Cent. I realized that after I wrote the scene, however, so, just so you guys know, I haven't copied or taken any ideas from that. J


	15. Making Friends With The Enemy

Ack! I checked all of my reviews, and I just want to say thank you! I'm really glad that you people take time to enjoy my story! Whenever I read your comments, I swear, my day just gets a lot better. J

By the way, I've got a little Leon/Letty moment for y'all. :-P Hehe…

Oh, quick shout outs:

Foxyboxer: I know, my friends are weird too…can you believe that they actually think Vinny is ugly?!? Awful… Anyway, thanks for your reviews! Oh, and if you ever want to talk outside of shout outs/reviews, my sn is SleepyMonkey241 (sound familiar? :-P)

Mickey: Thanks! Yea, I kinda liked old Bri…lol- his part should get bigger as I go along!

Mmmmocha: Wow, you're the first to notice that Chris had Dom's number! Well, my Bearer of Information (Leon) passed on the phone number, to clear things up. 

Fallen Angel: OMG, you totally got it right! MBFFW IS Melanie's Best Friends Forever Week! How'd ya guess? Lol, j/k. Yep, 100 reviews, but I only need 29 reviews, and I have a whole lot left of the story J, so I think my request is pretty simple. Thanks for helping with the end of this chapter!

CiCi: You are SO right about those kittens… I signed right away. As for the story, I think we shold start incorporating anime-fandom-reviews into TFATF! Lol, j/k!

Star: No one's going to die…yet…

DomLetty4Eva: *gasp* Thank you so much! You rock for saying that! *dances around*

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*Dom's POV*

I parked in the driveway in front of my house, taking a minute to appreciate the imports and supped-up cars that lined the block all around my neighborhood. All of the guys here weren't just my friends; they were also my opponents. I whistled lowly at the competition surrounding my Mazda RX-7, wondering when someone would finally beat me; wondering if Chris really was my better in a sport that I'd dominated for years.

When I walked inside, already looking around for my girl, my beer, and my friends, I was greeted by the usual crowd- guys who wanted to be- or beat- me and the skanks that surfaced only when Letty, Melanie, or Mia weren't around. Attempting to pull away from the loud, rowdy group was futile; I'd have to wait until they cleared away. Or not. Within seconds, Mel, Letty, Kat, Mia, Brian, Pax, Jesse, and Leon materialized in front of me, pushing away the drunks. 

"Sorry, girls, Dom just doesn't _do_ skanks anymore," said Melanie, handing me a Corona and pushing me off into the kitchen where Chris and Co. were already waiting. 

We sat down and started to talk when I noticed someone wasn't there. "Where's Vince?"

"I don't know, dawg, he just came in and disappeared. Haven't seen him since we got here," growled Leon.

"He's been acting really strange lately," mentioned Mia.

"I think he's lonely," interrupted Mel.

"Vince? Please. He doesn't need anyone," laughed Jesse.

"No, he looks lonely, I mean, all of us have someone, and he only has himself. Poor V. We should introduce him to someone," Melanie continued, glancing at all of us.

"The kid is right, I fucking don't need anyone. Now can we please get back to the matter at hand, rather than talking about MY love life?" Vince stormed in and swiped at a seat, sitting down with a huff.

"Fine," I said, praying for an ounce of normality to come back to this night. "Chris, you're a good racer. There aren't many people who can tie with me, much less beat me. That's why I want you to join my team. You've proved that you're Team Toretto quality. What do you say?"

He smirked and answered, "Hell yeah, that sounds great. When am I in? Oh, and what about my own team? Team V can't just split up."

"Right. Keep them, but from now on, they'd race for me. You'd all be a part of _my_ team. By the way, what does the 'V' stand for?"

He paused before speaking. "It stands for…victory. Team Victory. So, now that everything's done, why don't we get back to the party?"

I laughed before pulling away from my seat, accompanied by Mel. We didn't stick around the rest of the team at after parties ever since we'd all hooked up with someone. I turned to her when I felt her shivering beside me.

"What's wrong?"

"Vince was almost drooling over that girl over there. Did you see?"

"How's that funny?"

"It was cute. Never thought I'd see him that interested!"

"You think something'll happen between them?"

She stared at me soberly, now very serious. "I hope so. He needs someone to keep him in check. You know, someone to make sure he comes home at night. It's the same for you, Leon, and Brian. Except, you guys have us."

"You don't control me," I stated, glaring at her for a moment.

"Oh, honey…" she cooed, patting my head and wandering upstairs.

"You don't!" I insisted.

"Of course I don't," came her careless reply as she continued to our room.

"I'm the man. I've got the control. Me, the M-A-N," I mumbled to myself as I followed her finger, beckoning me towards _my_ bed.

"Give me a massage, please." 

"Okay." _Oh yeah, Toretto, you're in control._

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Come on, you have to see this, Let!"

"Le, I'm tired. I want to go to bed," I moaned as my husband dragged me outside. 

"Look!" He was pointing to the sky, indicating a group of stars. "See that one?"

I winced to recognize his star of choice. It was large and bright, just as shiny and beautiful as the engagement ring Leon had gotten me years ago. "I see it. What's so special about it?"

"It's our star."

"What?"

"Don't you remember? When we first met, it was on this night- Mia's end of the school year party. You were so beautiful that night. Remember how you rejected me?"

I grinned, "Of course, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"After you did that, I went and looked at that same exact star that you see up there. I think it gave me the courage to ask you out again. What did you say to me then?"

"I told you I'd go out with you."

"Right, and the night before we had our first night…that night, I told you that I'd always love you. That was the first time I told you I loved you."

I closed my eyes and buried my head in my love's shoulder as he swung us around in a slow dance. He hummed the song from our wedding and went on to say, "It all happened under that star. I just wanted to show you that as long as that star burns, I'm always going to love you." 

We kept dancing as Leon kissed my shoulder and rested his head on top of mine. "I love you, Leon," I whispered.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I walked over to the girl with the dark eyes from before. The one from Chris's team. It's not like she was off limits- I hadn't seen a man stick around her all night, and besides, now would be a good time to set up Team V/Toretto relations. 

"Hey. Want something to drink?" I asked, sitting beside her.

She glanced up at me and flashed me a quick, pearly white smile and looked away again. Her eyes made her look like she was hurt by something.

"Are you okay? I'm Vince," I told her, offering her the beer again. I looked over her petite figure, clad in low-rise jeans and a black tube top. Her hair fell on her shoulders and framed her face.

"I'm fine," she whispered, so quietly that I barely heard. "I'm Josie. I don't usually drink, thank you."

"Oh…" I put the bottle down where it was snatched up by a passing Asian kid with slicked back hair. I tapped my fingers to the song that was playing, 'Enigma' by Trapt. It was around 2 in the morning, but no one cared about the volume because most of our neighbors were in the house anyway. 

"Are you sure you're okay? I haven't seen you speak all night," I said once more. At the same time, I was thinking two things; 'I wish I could make her happier' and 'Remind me why I care…' 

"I'm fine, really. If I were to speak, I should think people would find me insane," she said quietly, gesturing to the small crowd around her, uninterested in Josie. 

I laughed as I saw another girl come and sit by Josie. She turned to me and indicated to the new girl. "Oh, Vince, this is my friend, CiCi. CiCi, this is Vince."

CiCi's eyes scanned me, taking in my appearance before she said, "It's very nice to meet you. I guess we're sort of team mates now, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess we are," I chuckled, scooting to the side to make room for Pax. I introduced him and saw CiCi scan Pax this time, with a little more interest in him than she'd had in me.

By the end of the night, I'd managed to get dates with both, without one knowing about the other's involvement. Thank God for bathroom brakes, right? I sat back after they left and took a sip from my bottle of Corona, relaxing and putting my legs up on the table. Let Mia yell at me in the morning.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He was the best thing to have happened to me- the best and the worst. He saved me from a boring life doomed to stale, dry boyfriends and private school pep rallies. Then came the worst. That fateful night when he told me he had to work. The night he'd asked me to come with him. I knew something was up when he just stood on the corner of the street, leaning back and turning to look at me every now and then. Finally, some street punk with a dangling nose ring and green, spiky hair approached us. 

_"You got my merch?"_

_"As always," said Damien, pulling open a flap of his long coat. He removed a small packet filled with what looked like baby powder. Cocaine? What was Damien doing with drugs? He handed the bag over to the green-haired man and pocketed the large wad of money he'd received. Just like that, the druggie left without a word._

_"Damien, what the hell are you doing?" I asked, glaring at him._

_He laughed and said, "Relax, babe, what do you think paid for that necklace you're wearing?"  _

_I trailed a finger along my silver necklace with a diamond in the center. "You bastard! How can you do this? Don't you know what'll happen?"_

_He didn't answer. "Yo, what the hell are you doin' on my block?" He yelled to some guy wandering down the street.  _

_"I'm walking! Is that a problem? I can still walk here, I've got two legs, I'ma use 'em," the other man called back._

_"Like hell!" With that, Damien pulled out a handgun and shot twice, hitting the man in the legs. The man toppled over and gripped his knees in painstakingly clear agony while Damien screamed; "Now you can't use them!!"_

I ran faster than I'd ever run that night, ducking the bullets that Damien turned on me.

"If you ever tell anyone, I'll kill you, bitch!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I snuggled into Dom's embrace and yawned slowly. I must've fallen asleep during his massage- he worked magic with those hands of his. It was 3 AM, and I could still hear a couple of people downstairs- probably our team, both new and old members. I yawned again, this time feeling the dryness of my throat. After turning to kiss Dom's cheek softly, I wriggled out of his big arms and slipped on a robe, making my way downstairs.

I made my way into the kitchen, taking a clean glass to the pitcher of water on the table. My eyes drooped as I watched the clear liquid swoosh around the walls of the glass. I really needed to catch up on sleep. Behind me, I heard footsteps approach the table. 

"Isn't it a little late for you to be up?"

I turned on my heel to face Chris. His eyes were a little glazed over. "I got thirsty. Why are you still here?"

"Taking in the sights," he mumbled, taking a few steps closer to me. "You're a rather nice sight, you know."

"Um…thanks," I said, starting to edge away.

"Why are you leaving? Come on, let me show you something," he continued. He followed me as I walked away. 

"I have a boyfriend. You saw him, he could beat the shit out of you," I hissed, getting a little defensive; no one wants to deal with an unknown street racer, especially one who's smashed.

"Not if you don't tell him. Melanie, I saw you watching me at the races, you want me, I can tell," he chuckled.

"I wasn't watching you at the races, I was watching Dom. You two were standing close to each other."

He made a quick move to get ahead of me and touched my hand in a more-than-friendly way. I passed him and headed back upstairs to where Dom was, no doubt, still sleeping.

"Hey Mel," called Chris.

"What?"

"This won't happen again…I'm not sure what got in to me. Sorry."

I sighed and said, "It better not happen again, okay? I'll forgive you this time, though. Why don't you just go home for now?"

Taking a sip from the cool glass, I crept back to the bedroom. Sure enough, Dom's eyes were shut tight against the white pillows. That man could sleep through an earthquake, I thought to myself, smiling slightly. He hadn't moved since I left, so I gently pushed his arm to the side and closed my eyes, letting the combination of his smell, the cool breeze as his breath hit my neck, and the sound of a phone ringing in another room lull me to sleep.

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A/N: Who the hell calls people at 3 AM? Sounds ominous…


	16. Return of an Enemy

I know, I know. I haven't posted in a while. I have an excuse this time! I was out for the whole weekend that I meant to write. My friend's moving away, so she had a party, and I also went out with a bunch of people that I hadn't seen in ages (okay, a month and a half). Anyway, I've got the chapter and the shout outs out and ready to be read, just for you! 

Ooo, can't forget this: my friend just started writing in the Pirates of the Caribbean fandom. Her pen name is Xx Frbdn Angel xX- check her out, she's a great writer!

Shout Outs:

Tempest- this is your chapter! Sorry about what happens tho… L but I've got a plan for ya!

Foxyboxer- That's be cool if you e-mailed me! Oh, and that's not my homepage, it's my friends, lol.

Fallen Angel- Thanks for saying I'm a great author! OO, poor Chris, having to deal with a vicious Kat!

Mmmmocha- Yepyep, Vince is a player! Lol

CiCi- the dates! Oooh, I have to plan those…hmm, maybe I'll have them next chapter! Lol

Lazy Slothy- hey girl! Haven't talked to you in a while! Hope you had a nice trip! Thanks for reviewing!

DomLetty4Eva- hola! Thanks for reviewing!

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*Kat's POV*

I moaned and turned on my side, groggily reaching out for the shrill ring coming from the phone. 

"What?" I growled.

"It's so nice to hear how much you've missed me, Kitty-Kat."

I froze at the familiar voice. "Day… Damien?"

"The one and only, babe."

"What do you want?" I choked to get the words out of my mouth, sorely wishing I were still sleeping.

"I wanted to speak to the love of my life…I missed you during those long, hard nights in prison. Two years is a long time, isn't it? So what have you been up to? When can I see you?"

My voice showed more strength than I held as I answered, "Yeah, but it's not long enough, obviously. You can't ever see me again, Dame, I don't love you anymore!"

His voice blasted through the earpiece like gravel under the tires of a car, catching me by surprise. "I'd think so, considering that YOU'RE the one who got me into the Pen in the first place! Listen to me, you stole years of my life, and I'm going to make sure that I get my revenge- do you understand me? I know where you live; I could even be staring at you from across the street! Watch your back, Kitty-Kat, because one of these days, you WILL find yourself in the ground. Don't worry, I'll make sure that you'll have a closed casket as well."

"Damien, you're a sick fuck, don't play these games with me! You'd better stay away from me, or else! I'm not a scared little girl anymore, and for your information, I'm not the one who put you into jail. I never said anything to anyone! Just stay away from me!"

"Good night, Kat. Sleep tight." I heard a click and his voice was gone like snow under the sun.

I shivered and placed my head into my hands. Why me? Why now? I felt a warm hand clasp my shoulder as the body lying beside me stirred. I turned to see Jesse's slate-blue eyes gazing at me lovingly.

"Kat? What's wrong, girl?" 

I shrugged and lay back down, saying, "Wrong number, that's all."

"Oh. Um, you just sounded a little freaked out, I wanted to see if you were okay. You look like you've seen a ghost- are you sure you're alright?"

"Jesse, I'm fine. Can we please go back to sleep now?" I snapped, pulling my blankets tighter around me.

His voice was sad and he was visibly shaken with my tone- I'm generally soft-spoken around him. He lay down beside me and placed a cautious arm around my waist, moving closer to me when he saw that I didn't shrug him off. I glanced at the discarded clothing around the room, both his and mine, wondering whether it was a good choice to get so close to him so soon. The only person I'd ever been with was Damien and I'd ended up badly hurt, both by what he'd done and by his constant abuse.

Damien.

He was out of his prison in Miami, and he was now in Los Angeles. When he'd told me not to tell anyone about the shooting, I'd listened and kept my mouth shut. If I even looked at him the wrong way, he'd hit me- hard. He never stopped dealing, either. I knew he'd just go back to the same life when he hit the streets again, so I moved. 

I squeezed my eyes shut again as I felt Jesse rub my back from behind, loosening the tense muscles that had knotted up in my back. I'd talk to the others tomorrow. Maybe they have advice as to what I should do.

~ ~ At The Garage (next day) ~ ~

*Dom's POV*

"Dom, Vince! We're going to the shop for lunch today! I'm sick of pizza," Letty called from the back bumper side of a bright pink Honda S2000. The owner –some girl named Suki- had actually smashed it into a phone pole during a race. The whole rear end was screwed up. Stupid Miami racers- they think everything's a party down there. Act like they've got money coming out of the ass… Us LA racers are SO much smarter than them. I brought my attention back to Hector's piece of shit. He'd completely thrashed the floor of his car, God knows how.

"Who's gonna be there?" grunted Vince as he reached for a tool. 

"Who's usually there?" I asked sarcastically, looking at him oddly.

"I'm just saying…I was wondering if the new part of our team will be there."

"Depends on if they want free food or not, bro," I chuckled.

"That's true. So, are you actually going to stick with the rest of us this time or are you ducking out to some quiet place with Mel?"

"We don't do that," I scoffed as I felt my neck burn up a little bit. Of course we did that. So did Leon and Letty…only not at the same time as us, obviously.

"Yeah? Then where were you yesterday? Mel wasn't there either."

"She wasn't?"

"Naw, man, she went out somewhere and came back a few minutes before you did. She looked a little secretive…I thought you two had planned something, you know what I mean?"

Why wasn't Mel at the shop? I brushed that off and stood, rubbing my hands clean on a rag. "Come with me, Vince, I wanna show you something." 

"What about the cars?"

"The three cars that we can finish up this afternoon? Come on, business is slow today, let's go."

He snorted and stood up, stretching his neck and sore muscles while I went to change quickly. I climbed into my Mazda and waited for him to walk out, fully dressed, and sit on the passenger side.

"So, where are we going, Dom?"

"Bank."

~ ~ ~ 

We pulled up outside the bank and strolled in. My fingers played along an envelope containing money from the last races we'd been to- money that I'd won, half for the bills and groceries, and half for purposes that I'd be revealing to Vince as soon as the porky man in front of us was finished. 

"May I help you?" The mousy-looking woman standing on the other end of front desk sniffed. By the looks she was giving us, she probably thought we were bank robbers for sure. 

"Yeah, you can. I need to deposit this into my bank account," I replied in my most imperial don't-think-that-you-know-me voice.

"May I see your ID, please?"

I passed over all of the necessary information and handed over the money, taking back the paper that had all of my account information on it. I showed the number to Vince.

"Shit!"

"I've been saving this money for a long time, V. Four months after I met Mel. 1, 200,000 dollars, and do you know what it's for?"

"New house?"

"Not just that. I want to marry Melanie. I want to give her the perfect wedding, even though I know she won't expect me to have the money for it. Whatever's left will go to starting our family, whenever that is. She's going to have the best dress, the best ceremony, the best everything. That why I've been saving up, and I'm going to add the money that I have from my share of my grandfather's will, as well as the trucks, to this account."

"Whoa…never expected you to pull something like this, brotha…you got a ring yet?"

I glanced at my feet. All of this planning and I didn't have a ring yet. "Nope."

"What? What the hell where you planning on doing? Just telling her to close her eyes and driving her to the ceremony? It's been four years! Buy the ring!"

"I will!! I just haven't gotten a chance yet!"

"Waiting for a billion to show up in that account of yours?"

"No! I've just been busy, that's all! Why do you care so much?"

He hit me on the head, emphasizing his point. "_Because_, once you're absolutely off the market, all of the ladies will go to _me_. Can't you see? I will be the NEW available Sex God!!! Girls in and out of my room…can't wait, brotha!"

"That's why you want me to get married? So you can have MORE sex? Dawg, you need a girl!"

"That's the plan," he replied breezily, grinning like he'd won the lottery.

"I meant ONE girl."

"I meant more! Come on Dominic, I'm hungry after all of this relationship crap…time for lunch!" 

I sighed and shook my head as the man-whore in front of me ran to the gleaming red car ahead of us. Mel was right…he needs a girl. Or at least a life outside of whatever the hell he's doing now.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"So he just called and then hung up like that?" Melanie stared at Kat, as she, Mia, and Letty found out about the strange phone call from the previous night.

"I've never been so scared in my life," Kat whispered, shuddering despite the sunny California heat.

"How did you meet him? What happened between you two in the first place?" Letty asked as she walked back to the little group, passing out a bottle of iced tea to each of them.

"We started dating when I was young…maybe 15, 16… he was 18. Anyway, I was from this rich family in Key Biscayne, Florida. I'd never met anyone quite like Damien, but he gave me such a thrill every time I saw him. He was a bad boy, and I loved being his one and only. Anyway, when I was 17, I lost my virginity to him, and I guess that's when he became a little possessive, and most likely, that's when I started to notice the drugs. He hated it when I spoke to other guys, and he always seemed a little spaced out, if you know what I mean. I went with it though, because I loved him."

"When I turned 18, I moved in with him, and then one year later, I had to go with him to this empty street where I saw he was selling drugs. One guy came up and they started to yell at each other. In the end, Damien shot the other man twice in the leg and warned me not to tell anyone about it. My best friend, Rome, found out about how Damien hit me daily, and reported it to the police. They saw the proof in black and blue on my body and stormed in one night when we were fighting. They found drugs and took him to prison, where he's been for the last two years. I've been moving around the country a lot recently. I left Miami about a month after Damien was incarcerated."

"Oh, Kat, it must have been awful, I'm so sorry," cried Mia, pulling Kat into a hug. 

"Yeah, it sucked. Not to mention that the day I left was the day that I found out that Rome had been shot down and murdered by one of Damien's friends."

"That son of a bitch," whispered Letty, as she and Melanie followed Mia's suit and embraced Kat.

"He'll pay for what he's done, Kat- don't worry, we've got your back," said Melanie, glancing at the door as though expecting Damien to walk in any minute. 

The door opened quickly and a figure walked in, followed by four others. "Hey girls! What's for lunch?"

Mia pulled away and glared at Brian. "We were busy- if you want food, come back here and make your own sandwich!"

Brian grinned a sly little grin at his girlfriend. "I'll have tuna, no crust, babe. Thanks."

Vince sat down next to Brian and slapped his back. "Listen, man, you've already got her- don't try to fake that you actually _enjoy_ those things."

"I _do_ enjoy them," said Brian, giving both Vince and Mia a puppy-dog look. 

Mia kept her glare and said, "Not now, Bri."

"What's up with her?" Brian whispered to Melanie as she passed by him to greet Dominic.

"She was fine a minute ago, must've been something _you _did," she said while she wrapped her arms around Dom's neck. "Hey, Dommy. What did you want for lunch?"

"Just one thing today," he answered in a low, gravelly tone.

"Just one? And what would that be?"

"You," he said, pulling her to the office in the back.

Brian blinked as he watched the short exchange and turned to Letty. "When are there hands ever off each other?" he joked, laughing slightly as he tipped back a Corona.

Letty swiped his beer and replied, "When are _your_ hands ever off of _Mia_? You know, you can be such a hypocrite sometimes."

Brian whipped his head around to Leon and Jesse, who had appeared at his sides. "Why are they all being so mean today?? What did I do? It's like they're ganging up on me," he whined, trying to get his half-empty beer bottle from Letty.

Jesse chuckled as Letty gave him the beer and Kat hugged him from the side. "It's 'cause no one likes you, Arizona."

Brian's jaw dropped as he nearly yelled, "You've got to be shitting me! I didn't _do_ anything!"

"No, you didn't," Letty agreed. "It's just funny as hell to bother you. Even the dog gets in on it. You stepped on…oh wait; Mia, Kat, you have to hear this! Brian nearly lost his balance when he almost stepped onto this wrench, and his foot shoots back and lands on poor Fernando's tail! Ferny barks, leaps up, and bites Brian on the ankle, causing him to land flat on his ass! It was so funny, I wish I'd had a video camera!"

"You see what they put me through? Then I come to eat and _you're _mean to me! Can you please make me a sandwich, Mi?" Brian pleaded, his hands up in pitiful supplication. 

"You know what Bri? You whine way too much, just go back to the garage okay? I can't deal with you right now.

"Can't I at least have a bag of…"

"No! Brian you're giving me a headache! I'll talk to you tonight, all right?"

"But…"

"OUT!!" shouted the remaining people in the store, gleefully watching the poor man walk out.

"He he he…pobresito… I don't think I've seen him this upset since you made him clean the whole living room, Mi," laughed Letty.

"I know, I know…bring him a sandwich when you go back, okay? Just so that he doesn't starve," Mia snickered, pulling a plate of sandwiches out from behind the countertop.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I can't do this anymore, Miss Lee," said Tempest, looking at the ground.

"WHAT!" yelled Natsuko, nearly choking on her glass of champagne.

"I don't want to kill them, they're good people. Haven't you ever heard that two wrongs don't make a right?"

"Of course I've heard of that! It doesn't change my plan, however. Toretto and the others will pay with their lives for what they did to me! You want out of this, Tempest?"

"Yes, please. Let me go, I promise I won't breathe a word of this to anybody. You can trust me," pleaded the girl.

Natsu arranged the fur coat that Johnny had once given her and brought her stare to meet Tempest's eyes once more. "_I_ can trust you? _I _can trust the person who I hired on a contract based completely ON trust, only to have them quit on me? What makes you so sure of your honesty?"

"Please, Miss Lee! I'm a good person; I haven't done many things wrong in my life! Give me another chance and let me go! Please!" 

Tempest held her breath as Natsu took another long sip from her glass. "All right, fine. You may go. Do not forget, however, that if I ever see you again, I'll consider it hunting season…"

Tempest breathed a sigh of relief and turned to walk away when she felt the wind rush past her and the wall ahead exploded with a sickening crush. The sound and feelings were similar to those provided by a bullet. Tempest turned around and stared at the front of a smoking gun.

"Tempest, sweetheart," Natsu cooed, changing her voice to a harsh tone. "I don't lie, like some people. I won't miss next time."

Tempest ran out of the mansion as fast as her shaking legs could carry her, not once looking back.

From behind the luxurious couch where Natsu was lounging, the sound of clapping broke the silence. Natsu craned her head around to see what the noise was coming from.

"I love a woman with good aim," said the man, walking over to sit by the surprised Natsuko.

"Really? I love a man who speaks his intentions on the spot. Who are you and what do you want? Better yet, how'd you get in here?" she questioned, astounded by his current actions.

"My name is Damien Carter, I want to join you in your little 'Team Vengeance' operation, and I pulled a gun on the guards outside. One flew like a bat out of hell, the other willingly showed me where you were," he replied smoothly, pulling the aforementioned gun out of his coat pocket and setting it before Natsu.

"Impressive. Why do you want to be a part of my plan?"

Damien sighed and ran a hand through his curly black hair as a glint flashed in his sparkly green eyes. "Personal reasons. A woman I once trusted stabbed me in the back, and I'd like to get a chance to stab her myself. Good enough intentions?"

"Perhaps. Who is she?"

"Most call her Kat. I'd like to call her dead. You give me the chance to destroy her and I will help you in anyway I can, whether you need hired criminals or cars…anything your lovely evil heart desires," he whispered as he pulled her hand to his lips. 

Natsu laughed and pulled her hand back from Damien, running her fingers through his mass of curls. "You're in, Mr. Carter. Welcome to the 'team'."

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Ooo…one member of Team V gone, and an even worse person replacing her…what now? 

A/N: If anyone took offense to that Miami comment, I really didn't mean any- I thought it sounded funny ^_^. Oh, and I do like Brian, I just needed to pick on someone for this chapter. :-D


	17. Decisions and Visions

Nothing but shout outs today…the full A/N is at the end. ^_^

CiCi- *British accent* Oi!  Say, old chum (not that you're old, but...w/e) damn nice of you to review, but…shouldn't you be using that British accent in POACO? There seem to be a lot of Brits in there :-P j/k, lol

Lazy Slothy- Hehehehe, prepare yourself for more twists and turns! I'm on a roll like a coaster and the ideas are just coming in, one after another! :-D lol

Mickael MM- looks like you don't have to wait any longer, huh? :-P Enjoy!

Fallen Angel/Corrupted Dreams- *snort* Hiding behind Jesse after the things you wanted to do to him in the crossover! Tsk, tsk tsk, lol, j/k. Anyway, aren't you glad I finally updated? Now you guys don't have to wait an extra week! Woo! 

Foxyboxer- Thank you! Hope you enjoy the new one!

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~ ~ At Night ~ ~

Dominic passed the doors of the top floor of his house lazily, hands in pockets, thinking of the possibilities that awaited him in his own bedroom. He loved the fact that he had Melanie all to himself, and he loved it even more that she was nothing at all like his previous heart's desires'. She loved him for him, not for his status as King of the Streets, and that was important to the half-asleep man who now stood in front of the door to his own bedroom. He shook his head clear of his thoughts and shuffled quietly into the dark room, where Melanie was clearly already asleep. 

He sighed, _No need to wake her up now…I'm too tired to do anything anyway_. The day had been tiring, for when he'd returned to work, he found two more cars in need of some sort of help. Dominic closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as he began to pull off his clothes, dropping them with light little noises on the floor. He unzipped his pants and stepped out of them, now wearing nothing but boxers and a pair of socks, and gently pushed the blankets to the side so as not to disturb Melanie as he lay down. The mattress sank a little bit underneath his weight and he turned over and placed an arm around Mel, closing his eyes. Beside him, Melanie turned around and pushed him away, on to the ground and yelled, "PERVERT!!!"

Dom snapped back to consciousness immediately as the lights flicked on around him. _What the hell?_ He thought as he saw Letty glaring at him from beside the door. "Letty! What are you doing in my room? Where's Mel?" he asked, looking around wildly.

"You perv, you're in the wrong room! Put your damn clothes back on, I'm married for God's sake! Get out!" she hissed, opening the door to usher him outside.

_I'm in the wrong room? Oh my God, I walked into the wrong bed! I almost slept with Letty!_ Dominic choked as his throat dried up at his thoughts, and he grabbed his clothes and rushed out, only to meet head-on with Leon, who wasn't looking too pleased.

"You just can't keep your dick in your pants, can you, you asshole?" he growled in a dangerously low gruff voice. He clenched his hands into fists and swung, catching Dominic right underneath the right eye.

"No man, you don't understand!" Dom shouted in a muffled voice as Leon swung away at the poor, frazzled man in front of him. Letty reached for his arms to pull him away from Dom.

Finally, Melanie appeared at Dominic's side asking what in hell was going on. Leon growled at her as well, and answered, "YOUR boyfriend just got into bed with MY wife!"

Melanie pulled away, shocked to the core. "Dom? Tell me that's not true! How could you do that to me? With Letty, for God's sake!"

Letty looked at her, hurt, "What's wrong with me, chica?"

"Ugh, it's not you, it's the fact that you're my friend and Dom would cheat on me _with_ my friend!"

Dominic watched the three of them, extracting looks of annoyance, anger, and hurt. He hissed menacingly at the pain of Leon's punches and spoke loudly to get the others' attention. "I didn't cheat on you! I didn't try to sleep with Letty! I'm just tired, and all I wanted to do was to get some sleep. I'm sorry, okay? It was an honest mistake! Can I just go now?"

He pulled himself to his feet and stumbled off to get ice from the kitchen. "You people are all crazy and sadistic," he muttered under his breath as he held onto the door for support.

"I heard that," said Melanie as she followed him out of Leon and Letty's room, quickly apologizing on his behalf for the mix-up. 

~ ~

Letty chuckled as the couple left her room, turning around and snuggling up to Leon.

"So, tell me the truth. Was he better than me?" asked Leon, displaying a look of mock hurt on his face.

"Much better, Le," she giggled, poking Leon's stomach with an index finger.

Leon looked away from her for a second and concentrated on the folds of white sheets surrounding him. He played with his thumbs and looked back at her, opening and closing his mouth as if to speak. "Let, I've been thinking about things," he told her, looking her right in the eye.

She gazed at him solemnly before asking, "What's wrong, honey?"

"Nothing's wrong, it's just that…well, we're married now, and… I think we should move out. We need a home of our own where we can raise our kids together. I think we should start looking at homes that are up for sale around here."

Letty absorbed this revelation and nodded her head, clearly agreeing with her husband. "I was wondering when we'd start considering that. I'm for it, except for one thing…"

"What's that?"

"I want to stay in this neighborhood. You know that the rest of the team's going to stick around here when they start families, and I want all of us to be together, and I want our kids to grow up with each other, just like we did when we were young."

Leon took her hand in his and replied, "Of course, Let. We'll start looking tomorrow, but let's not tell anyone about it yet, 'kay? I don't want them to start getting involved and all of that, you know?"

"I think it's just that you don't want to see Mia get all emotional and shit," Letty smirked, leaning over to kiss Leon.

"Exactly," he mumbled, giving way to Letty's advances. If he made her happy now, then maybe she wouldn't mind too much that he'd already began his search for a house. Not to mention the fact that he'd already found a rather nice looking potential home the other day… 

~ ~

Dominic held an ice pack grudgingly to his eye where he'd been decked quite a few times. He sighed when Melanie- the real one- appeared behind him and placed light fingers on his shoulders. "You okay, Dom?"

"Peachy," he replied, shrugging her hands off of him.

She moved to sit on the chair next to him smiling wryly as she inspected his injuries. "Dom, it's alright. We know you made a mistake, don't worry." She kissed him gently where a bruise was already forming underneath his eye. "I take it you had a rough day, huh?"

Dom nodded, looking very much like a child under the careful, meticulous inspection of a mother. "I need a break really bad from all of this shit, you know? The shop, the garage, bills…racing… everything," he watched her face hesitantly for a reaction to his last word.

"How about- instead of making a big thing of race night next time- we just get together as a team and go out? Maybe we can see a movie, or go to dinner, something like that. You don't need to race, we have enough money to do without it once in a while," proposed Melanie, letting Dom take her hand in his. 

"That sounds great for us, but…the rest of the team… they're not just going to accept that I don't want to race. They're going to think something's up. What am I going to say? 'I don't _feel_ like it'?"

"You're only thinking of the guys, Dominic."

"What?"

"Think about it. Do you think that Mia, Kat, Letty, and I are happy when the cops come? Or when some idiot starts a fight that can become a riot? If you called off race night for us just once, we'd be pretty damn happy, because then we'd know that our men are safer than they would be on some crowded, dangerous street. Besides, if the women don't go, what makes you so sure that you guys would still want to?" 

Melanie sat back in her seat to watch as Dominic's face slowly gave away realization to her whole statement. He grinned slowly at her and stood up, bringing his ice with him. "It's settled then. We're not going next week," he declared firmly, looping his arm around Melanie's waist. 

She rested her head against his chest and nodded while asking, "Sounds good…but can we go back to bed now? It's two in the morning."

"Yeah, but let's make sure that we get into the same room this time, aiight?"

Mel giggled as she returned the sudden kiss Dom had planted on her. She pulled back and smiled as they kissed again, a little dance of longing in both of them. Dominic carried her slowly to their room and placed her on the bed, kicking the door shut behind him as all thoughts of sleep were quickly discarded.

~ ~ Morning ~ ~

Kat wandered through the top floor of the Toretto home, languidly searching for Jesse, who seemed to have gone missing over the course of fifteen minutes. She stopped in front of the door to Leon and Letty's room, realizing quickly that Jesse may have gone in to speak to his best friend. Turning the knob to enter, she was welcomed with an empty room. Well, almost empty. Hoarse singing was coming from the small bathroom to the side of the room. 

"Jesse?" Kat asked the walls around her. She twisted suddenly to face a half naked Leon still singing rather badly coming out the bathroom. Her eyes dropped to the towel wrapped around his waist.

_That's probably the only thing he's wearing_, she thought, absentmindedly stepping forward rather than back.

His voice brought her back to her senses as he asked, "Kat? What are you doing in here?"

"I'm…I'm…um…Jesse," she replied, reaching for the door from behind her back. She missed and grabbed a pair of Leon's boxers, which had been hanging on the knob. Kat looked at the piece of cloth in her hands and dropped it quickly, stumbling on another piece of clothing that had been on the floor. Grasping Leon's leg, she tumbled to the soft carpet below her with the undressed man in tow. 

"Ooooerrrghhh," she moaned, lifting her head from the floor beneath her. She gasped and shut her eyes tightly when she noticed a tunnel made out of a white towel and two legs staring straight at her from it's own disgruntled spot on the carpet. Leon looked down between his legs at the nearly comatose girl in front of him and stood up, hastily pulling clothes on. 

Kat blinked once, twice and ran out the door, desperately searching for something to take the previous image from her eyes. "Jesse, where are you?" she called, bumping into the familiar thin form of her boyfriend. 

"I'm right here, girl. I was looking for you! You just went off somewhere after I came out of the bathroom!" He studied her face carefully and hugged her. "What's wrong, sweetie? You look like you've just seen a ghost!"

Kat stared at him with hollow eyes and answered, "Believe me, Jess, what I just saw was definitely alive…"

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Hehehe, poor Kat and Dom- things just went wrong on their behalf! Although I must say that Dom's luck improved, lol. I've got some bad news, after which you can go and review (^_^). 

Bad news: I'm leaving! Sorry, people (and beloved fans) but I'm going to be gone for a week (vacation), so that means no updates for a little while! I know, I know, I'll miss you all as well, but if you get separation anxiety, you can always just read any of my other fics O.o, particularly the new one. 

In any case, goodbye for now! ^_______^

Mel


	18. Just When Things Seem To Settle Down

Sorry I'm updating so late. Couldn't think of anything lately. Anyway, enough talk- go read (and review)!

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Jesse and Kat made their way down to the kitchen table, greeting the others who were happily eating Mia's current batch of home made pancakes. Leon briefly connected eyes with Kat and each looked away, shortly becoming the bright color of embarrassment. Leon coughed to clear the sudden tension in the room and attempted conversation with Vince.

"So…what are we doin' today, Vince?"

"Um…working. What else are we going to do?"

Leon looked away from Vince's early-morning, before-coffee sneer and turned to Letty, quickly swiping a strip of bacon off of her plate. "Thank you, baby," he cooed as she turned to find the food mysteriously out of its place.

During that transaction, Melanie and Dom wandered in, each one as sleepy-eyed as the other. Melanie took her place at the seat that was to the right of Dom's, and greeted the others who were already sitting around the table. 

"Peaceful morning," commented Letty as she took her revenge out on Leon's extra pancake. 

"Quiet, for once," agreed Melanie. Oddly enough, the house resounded with nothing but silence accompanied by the pleasant chatter created by the members of the household.

Dominic placed his plate down and stood back up, calling everyone's attention to himself. "I've got something important to say- listen up." He looked meaningfully at Melanie and she smiled encouragingly back at him. "We're not going to the races this Friday. I was thinking we could just have a team night to ourselves- no racing, just us." He waited momentarily for objections and sat down, taking hold of a knife and fork.

"Why aren't we going, Dom?" asked Vince.

"I figured we should use Friday to go out to a restaurant or some clubs or something. Take a break from all the competition," replied Dominic.

"But we do that kind of thing on Sunday," interrupted Jesse.

"True, but we don't stay up all night on Sunday because of work on Monday," said Dom, placing a piece of bacon into his mouth as a closing point to the argument.

Mia hugged Dom from behind while saying, "I think it's a great idea- in fact, we should all go see 'Uptown Girls'!"

The rest of the girls (excluding Letty) nodded in agreement only to have the thought knocked away by the men's heated requests of 'Freddy vs. Jason'. Melanie shook her head to downplay the guy's choice. "Seriously, that movie is just a sorry excuse for some lame-ass special effects and gore. I think I speak for the women when I say we are NOT seeing that."

Further discussions ensued.

~ ~ At Night ~ ~

"Hey V, what's with the outfit?"

Vince scrutinized himself in the mirror as he dabbed on cologne. He grimaced at Jesse, who'd broken his careful concentration. "I'm goin' out," he said gruffly.

"Really? With who?"

"Josie."

"The chick from the new half of the team?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't you already go out with that other one? Cici or something?"

"Yeah."

Jesse looked carefully at Vince, who seemed to have turned a rather pale shade of whitish-green. "You okay? You look a little sick, man."

Vince turned to face Jesse with a brief look of pain and anger reddening his features. "Jesse, this is the second date I've been on since O'Connor took Mia. All I've ever known is her, what am I supposed to do if this is just another failed attempt to move on? Especially after the first try went terribly. She hated me."

Jesse gaped, words refusing to leave his mouth. Vince had never been a real 'emotional' type of guy. _Is that why he's always angry? Because he doesn't have Mia?_ "V…" he said, sympathetically. 

"Look, I'm out or else I'm gonna be late. I'll see ya later," Vince huffed, pushing past Jesse to get out of the room.

~ ~

Vince carefully climbed up the slightly rickety steps of the new team's house across the street. A woman that was about 5'6" answered the door. She looked him up and down with an air of disdain and then let him in.

"Jo'll be down in a minute. Wait here," she said, flipping her red hair and walking into a room that was filled with a group of girls and one or two guys mixed in. Vince tried to remember the girl's name and decided that it was Trinity. He watched the other team's interactions and saw two fighting over a movie.

_Something's not right…_the thought struck him and would not let go. The motions of the people in front of his eyes were not fluid, not like those of people who'd spent a good part of their lives together. He shivered as Trinity intercepted the current fight with a cold glare and hissed at them to just put the movie in, which was another action that struck him as odd. How could she be so irritated over a spat as small as that?

Vince shook his head clear of the present thoughts and turned his attention to Josie, who was cautiously making her way down the stairs in tall, black sandals. She was wearing a light black dress that hugged her slight figure. Her dark hair was straight and moved a little bit as she waved cheerily to Vince. He grinned and waved back when she finally joined him on the lower landing at the foot of the steps. 

"Ready to go?" he asked, scanning her behind low-lidded eyes.

"Always am," she declared with a smile.

~ ~

Vince and Josie sat across from each other in a small, comfortable Mexican restaurant, chatting amicably and waiting for their check. Vince had learned two things from this girl so far: 1) she had a great smile, and 2) he was definitely attracted to her. He nodded absentmindedly as she continued what was becoming a one-sided conversation with herself and considered the possibilities of what might happen after the night was over.

"Don't you agree, Vince?" 

"Huh?" Vince's ears perked up at the mention of his own name and he blinked in confusion at the big blue eyes pointedly locking him in a staring contest. "I'm sorry, what were you asking?"

"I didn't ask anything. You just looked like you were in your own little world, and I thought that I should bring you back," she chuckled, still not letting go of his gaze. "Got something big on your mind?"

"No, it's a very small thing, really," he rumbled in his husky voice. "I was wondering what would happen after I said goodnight to you…"

"Well, I'm going to go up to my room, change into pajamas, and go to sleep. What about you?" She grinned at him mischievously. 

He grinned back and replied, "I was planning on calling you."

Josie raised her eyebrows in mock surprise, saying, "Oh, you'll have missed me that much by the time you walk yourself home?"

"I'm missing you already," laughed Vince.

"Ooh, you're a charmer, Mr. Black," she cooed happily while Vince accepted the bill from their waiter and promptly paid for the meal.

"Of course I am, didn't I tell you about the time a snake was about to attack Dom and I had to charm it away from him?"

"That didn't happen!" she cried incredulously.

"Oh you don't believe me?" Vince waggled his brows comically and laughed. "He screamed so loud he messed up his voice. Why do you think he sounds the way he does these days?"

~ ~

Vince and Josie approached her door hand in hand. As she reached to dig the keys out from the bottom of her pocketbook, Vince turned her chin up to face him. Smoothly, he brushed his lips against hers slowly, so as not to scare her away, and engulfed her into his massive arms.

"Just wanted to say goodnight," he mumbled as the gap that separated their mouths began to grow back.

She nodded, still visibly shaken by Vince's sweet movements. She fought a brief fight within herself as to whether she should let him in or not. _Not_, she figured, refusing to let herself become another notch on the bedpost to him.

She kissed him again on the cheek, his prickly stubble rubbing against her lips, and said, "Goodnight, Vince… call me?" 

He nodded and hugged her once more before he backed away and walked across the street to his own home, humming "Brand New Colony" by The Postal Service to himself. Was he over Mia? _Almost_, he thought, contemplating every romantic possibility with Josie. He smiled to himself and fell asleep on the couch, still fully-clothed and consumed with the thoughts of his new girl.

* * * Friday Night * * *

*Mel's POV*

I snuggled into Dominic's arms as the team walked out of the movie theater from seeing American Wedding. I smiled slightly to myself, loving the way Dominic's dark, caramel skin blended with my own light skin in the moonlight. He was so beautiful. I turned around to kiss his cheek when my actions were interrupted by the sounds of sirens, both police and ambulance. They sped right past us, the blinding red and blue lights of the LAPD and the Glendale Hospital vans speeding urgently past us. I blinked. They were heading towards the location of tonight's races. 

"Fuck," said Dominic to himself, letting go of me and walking the short distance between the theater and the alley where the races were taking place.

The rest of us followed him until we reached the races, gasping at the scene that was unfolding before us. Cars were punctured with bullet wounds, at least those that didn't have NOS in them. There had clearly been explosions, dozens of random car parts littered the ground. People were in even worse condition. Many lay in stretchers with limp arms hanging off the sides, and others were jumping around in hysterical frenzy, trying to tell the police or ambulance men what had happened. Those that weren't speaking to the police or being taken away on stretchers were being herded into the backs of police cars, clearly being taken into custody over the night's illegal actions.

Dominic rushed over to Hector, who stood trying to comfort a girl that I'd seen hanging around his crew before. "Hector, what the hell happened?"

Hector stared up at the tall man before him with painstakingly cold venom in his eyes. "Someone came here with guns, man, lots of them. Started to yell and shit. He looked like he was one of your guys, from that new team or something. Finally, when we understood what he was shouting about, he said that you'd told him to do it. He said you'd paid him big money to come up here and shoot all this shit up. He hit some of the cars. Hit some of my people. After that the cops came and took everyone who could still walk away." Hector glared at Dominic one last time before walking away with the girl still attached firmly to his arm. If looks could kill… 

Dominic looked back at us with pleading eyes, begging us to see that he hadn't done anything, that what Hector had said wasn't true. He watched my eyes slip to a passing ambulance with two worried people-friends of mine- staring back out at me through the glass.

There was blood on the street that night, and allegedly on Dom's hands.

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So…if Dom says he wasn't responsible, than who was? R/R please!


	19. Meeting

I am so so so so sorry about not updating for like a month. I just got held up at school. Luckily, however, I opened up some current reviews, and they inspired me to finish chapter 17 and post it for everyone to read. Thanks so much to all of the people still reading my story, despite crappy updating times! Love you all, and I definitely wouldn't have gone so far without you!!!

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I turned around twice, feeling as if my eyes were lying to me about the scene I was witnessing. It was about an hour after everyone had been packed up in both ambulances and police cars. The rest of the team had gone home, leaving me alone to sit quietly on the curbside. Except for Vince. He hung around, at first pacing up and down the street, until he finally got tired and sat about a foot away from me.

"Never thought this could happen," he stated, as much to me as to the sky above him.

"I know." There wasn't much to talk about tonight.

"Who do you think did it?" he continued, looking at me for the first time that night.

"No clue. Could've been an upset Tran, could've been anybody."

Vince huffed and threw his head into his hands, rubbing his forehead. "This shit is crazy. You remember when we were younger, how it was all about the speed? Now it's just team rivalries and fighting."

I nodded, "It's not even about the race. Not about the beast and the animal who drives it. That's why I didn't want to go tonight. I can't see my game become something that it was never supposed to become. It can't happen while I'm still alive."

Vince and I sat for another five minutes, mulling over whatever was going on in our heads, until I broke the quiet California air again. "Do they really think I set all of this up?"

"You're the king of the streets, Dom. Why would a want to king destroy his own empire?" 

"Thanks V, at least I know that my team's behind me. Hector though…thought he knew me better than that."

"Whatever. Come on, bro, better get back before the girls start to worry," said Vince, holding his hand out to help me up.

Clearing my head, I stood and started to slowly wander to my car.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"So what happens now?" asked Melanie when Dom and Vince came back.

"There's nothing we can do against some psycho who decides to shoot up 67th. Don't even know who did it," replied Dominic as he plopped down wearily on his favorite chair. He sighed as Melanie got up and started to rub his shoulders to ease the tension out of his muscles. "One thing after another for us, huh?"

The rest of the team sat around the living room and shook their heads as if to clear all of the past hour's images. Brian spoke up, "We can't just sit around here, though, Dominic. We need to find out what happened…"

"And then what are we going to do?" snarled Vince. "Straighten them out? What? We can't pull this shit anymore Brian. Most of us have responsibilities." He averted his eyes around the room, focusing on the couples sprawled lazily on the chairs and floor.

"He's right, Brian," added Dom, "we can't just go and exact revenge on someone we don't even know. The last thing we should do is to get involved. I don't want another Tran on our case."

They all nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with Dom. No one wanted to come home to an empty house where a note lay on a table explaining that two members of the team were in critical condition at the hospital again. 

Silence swallowed up the room again, each person reflecting on what had just been, and what was to come out of it. No one heard the footsteps scattering the gravel as someone crunched their way up to the front door. Finally, they all looked up, shaken out of their thoughts by a single, ominous knock on the door.

"Who'd be here at midnight?" questioned Jesse to no one in particular. Leon stood to answer the knocking, which was slowly beginning to escalate to an incessant _rat-tat-tat_ on the wooden door. 

"Where's Toretto?" seethed a voice from the other room. It sounded strangely -sinisterly- familiar. Leon backed into the living room with his palms spread towards the intruder. "Chill, dawg," he said, trying to calm down the angry man who now stood briskly in front of Dom. Melanie's hand instinctively tightened on said man's shoulders.

"What do you want, Chris?" asked Dominic, standing up and above Chris's 6'1" figure. 

Chris's green eyes glinted in the light of the room as he sneered at the bigger man. "How could you do that, Dominic? Killing all of those people…some 'king of the streets' you are." He snarled and spit at Dom's feet, only to be grabbed and shaken by Vince.

"What the hell are you talking about? I had no idea that this shit was going to happen," hissed Dominic, rage creeping into his voice and adding an intimidating edge. 

"Yeah, right. Dominic, this…this _incident_ could cost the rest of street racing. After the shock of what happened dies down, cops are going to be watching us like hawks. Even worse than what they used to do. 5-0 on every street corner from here to San Francisco!" Chris's eyes hardened into a cool emerald as he lowered his voice even more. "No more Race Wars, no more legend… none of that! Listen, I've gone around to some of the other teams- Hector, Edwin, Luis…everyone! We're all meeting at the abandoned warehouse that's past the docks… the old Meat Packing Corp. We need to figure out what we're going to do… we need to find a new place were we can keep up the races and stay discreet. It's going to be a major conference of teams all around LA- you, of all people, can't miss it. We're holding it this Monday at 3 AM. Don't be late. There will be guards at the door. Give them the password: Underworld Speedway Entry. Don't say anything about this to anyone, not even the people who I said were coming. Just be at the abandoned Meat Packing place at 3 AM on Monday morning." Chris leaned back and watched for Dom's reaction.

Dominic looked around the room, searching the eyes of each of his teammates. It was a mix of emotions from each one. How could this stranger be trusted, despite his current connections to the team? How could they avoid a meeting so crucial to the street-racing world? Gradually, each expression cleared until Dominic had his answer. He returned his attention to the young man standing brazenly in front of him.

"We'll be there."   


	20. I'm Sooo Sorrry

Hey guys, I am so so sorry that I haven't been updating my story! I've just been so busy with school, that I haven't really had a creative spurt or anything in the past couple of months. I promise that I'm going to do my best to think of ideas for ATV, but in the meantime, I guess you guys are just going to have to be patient. I love you all, and thanks soooo much for keeping up with the story! 

Love,

Mel


	21. No More Pain

I'm sorry, I know it's been forever, and there are probably a lot of new writers who have no idea who the hell I am, but I've been busy with a new story, and just catching up on my social life. A new year of school has brought new friends and new responsibilities.  I'll try to post more frequently, but I can't tell you guys that I'll be posting daily, like I used to. L Your reviews, however, are very helpful ^.^. Maybe they'll speed up the process…:P

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Team Toretto drove up to the old warehouse silently, with few words being exchanged on the walkie-talkies installed in the team's cars. Dominic took the first parking spot, then Vince, then Leon, each staking a nondescript place on the cracked pavement. Dom waited for Melanie to get out, then opened up the glove compartment and withdrew a shiny .9-millimeter. He checked to make sure the safety was on, and then hid it from sight into the pocket of his jacket. 

"I don't know, dawg, this place looks a little too shady, even for Chris. You think it's a trap?" Leon asked, looking around at the cold, damp walls. He shivered and pulled Letty to his side.

 "I'm not that sure myself," admitted Dom. "But we've got to find out. Be careful, all of you." He let a knowing eye wander, receiving solemn nods from the men of the group, each confirming that he was packing. "Come on."

The team clustered together and took their time heading up the stairs. The entire issue of the attack was touchy, none of them wanted to be on the receiving end of another shooting.

Almost painstakingly, they descended cold, damp, and seemingly rotten stairs to the basement of the warehouse. Everyone was on the lookout for the slightest hint of noise, or anything that disrupted the ominous silence that closed in on the group. 

"Hey!"

A yell from an unfamiliar voice. 

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?"

Another holler, and the Team clustered together, each of the men grabbing at their weapons. 

Dominic signaled for Vince, Leon, Jesse, and Brian to hold off on shooting anything. He chanced a reply, and shouted out, loud and clear, "We're the Toretto Team. We're meant to be here—who the hell are you?" He prompted his voice to become threatening.

The hidden voice remained silent momentarily, as if thinking about whether it should or shouldn't reveal its identity. Finally, it came back, and this time, it sounded closer. "Brian? Is that you, bro?"

A tall dark man walked out of the shadows, his cheekbones lightly illuminated by the combination of sweat and the faint glow from the warehouse's cheap fluorescent lights. He was wearing a white t-shirt that was a couple of sizes too big for him, and baggy black pants. His arms stood out from underneath his shirt, and his dark, sinewy skin was peeking out from underneath the white tee. His head was shaven, almost completely off except for a slight bit of fuzz that was sticking slightly out of the top of his head. His smile was big; although slightly unsure of the company he'd found his way into. Beside him stood a stocky man, perhaps several inches shorter. He wore casual jeans, and a garage shirt that said "Tej" on it in cursive, red letters. The first man stepped u to Brian and ruffled his hair, reaching with his left hand for Brian's right. 

"Brian! How long has it been, man? I see you let your hair grow out again! What are you doing on this side, though? I thought you'd gone to visit the parents in Arizona!"

Brian stared back at the man in near disbelief, and then clasped his hand, returning the stranger's grin. "Yeah, but then I had to bounce up to LA." Brian turned to the rest of his friends, now dumbfounded at this foreign exchange that was taking place in front of them. "You guys, this is Roman Pierce, from Miami. We were best friends growing up. Rome, this is everyone," Brian began to travel down the list of names, pointing to each person as he spoke. "That's Melanie, Dom, Jesse, Leon, Vince, and Letty. And this beautiful girl right here, is Mia, my girlfriend." 

Brian smiled wide and squeezed Mia's hand. "So what are you doing up here?"

Rome acknowledged the other team, and then began a quick explanation as to why he was in California. "Well, I got tired of the scene down there. I wanted something new, and so I came here, since you always spoke so highly of it. I'm in this shitty warehouse because I was told that there was going to be a major meeting for all of the big teams in LA, but I haven't seen anyone. What gives?"

Brian nodded, and Dom stood beside him, scowling. With every step they took towards the basement of this sodden, dingy basement, he grew evermore uneasy. Hearing Rome's confession about the absence of people in what was supposed to be an exclusive, yet crowded, event was even more unsettling. Shifting his weight from one foot to the next, he rumbled out a tired answer to Rome: "We don't know, but we want to find out. It's a little to quiet for us as it is. You want to walk with us? It's nothing but a feeling in my gut, but I don't think this is the kind of situation where people would want to split up."

Rome huffed and ran a tough hand over his clean-shaven head. "Yeah, we'll back you up. Come on, let's just go down to the basement, and see what kind of shit we've stepped into."

Melanie smiled grimly. "Better to get it over with sooner than later. Let's just hope we're not in for another one of our 'fun, team adventures'."

She fell into step beside Dominic, scrutinizing his face from out the corner of her eye. He was only twenty-five, but small lines from one too many frowns were already creeping up on him. As he walked dutifully forward, she noticed that his shoulders weren't held up as high they'd been in the past. He was every inch the beautifully captivating man he'd been since the moment she'd met him, except now… he was different. He was older, and had a look in the back of his eyes that showed weariness towards life, as well as all of the painful memories that had been bearing down on him since the day his father had died. At that moment of recognition, she wanted to take him in her arms, and hold him until his eyes wouldn't hold any more suffering, but she knew that she couldn't… she knew that now was not the time. Right now, the team and these two new strangers were all facing a path that might lead to their destruction. Melanie knew it… she felt it in the very pits of her churning stomach. She slipped her hand into Dominic's broad and blistered one, gratefully accepting the light squeeze that Dom gave her. 

He was scared too. 


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